Nutriology relies on advanced analytical tools to study the molecular compositions of food and provide key information on sample quality/safety. Small nutrients detection is challenging due to the high diversity and broad dynamic range of molecules in food samples, and a further issue is to track low abundance toxins. Herein, we developed a novel plasmonic matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI MS) approach to detect small nutrients and toxins in complex biological emulsion samples. Silver nanoshells (SiO₂@Ag) with optimized structures were used as matrices and achieved direct analysis of ~ 6 nL of human breast milk without any enrichment or separation. We performed identification and quantitation of small nutrients and toxins with limit-of-detection down to 0.4 pmol (for melamine) and reaction time shortened to minutes, which is superior to the conventional biochemical method currently in use. The developed approach contributes to the near-future application of MALDI MS in a broad field and personalized design of plasmonic materials for real-case bio-analysis.

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营养学依靠先进的分析工具来研究食品的分子组成，并提供有关样品质量/安全性的关键信息。由于食品样品中分子的高度多样性和广泛的动态范围，小量营养物的检测具有挑战性，而另一个问题是追踪低丰度毒素。在这里，我们开发了一种新型的等离激元基质辅助激光解吸/电离质谱（MALDI MS）方法，用于检测复杂的生物乳剂样品中的少量营养物和毒素。银纳米壳（SiO ₂@Ag）具有优化的结构用作基质，可直接分析〜6 nL的母乳，而无需任何富集或分离。我们对小营养物和毒素进行了鉴定和定量，检测限低至0.4 pmol（对于三聚氰胺），反应时间缩短至数分钟，优于目前使用的常规生化方法。所开发的方法有助于MALDI MS在广泛领域中的近期应用，以及用于实际生物分析的等离激元材料的个性化设计。

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