A mass spectrometry quantitation technique enables high-throughput quantitation
of small molecules using a laser-desorption (e.g., MALDI) ion source coupled to
a triple-quadrupole mass analyzer. The ions generated from the ion source are collisionally
damped/cooled, and then quantitatively analyzed using the triple-quadrupole analyzer
operated in the multiple-reaction-monitoring (MRM) mode. Significantly improved
measurement sensitivity is obtained by applying laser pulses to the ion source
at a high pulse rate of about 500 Hz or higher. This allows the data acquisition
to be performed rapidly, and the speed of about one second for each sample point
on the ion source target has been achieved.