Self-organization of stearic acid salts on the hemispherical surface of the aqueous subphase allows functionalization of matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry target plates for on-plate immobilized metal affinity chromatography enrichment

• Thin films of metal stearates were obtained on a hemispherical surface of a droplet. • Collapse of resulting films occurred on a solid substrate. • These structures can be obtained directly on a spot of a MALDI target plate. • Lanthanum stearate-based structure represented a promising metal-affinity sorbent. In this work we propose an approach for formation of periodic two-dimensional structures on a solid substrate via self-assembly of stearic acid molecules on an aqueous subphase drop containing metal ions. It was shown that when a saturated solution of stearic acid in n-hexane was applied to the hemispherical surface of an aqueous media containing barium ions, barium stearate monolayer was formed, which spontaneously collapsed during movement from the drop surface to the substrate. By means of infrared and Raman spectroscopy, light and scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry it was proved that a multi-structure of collapsed metal stearate monolayers with a developed surface was formed on the substrate surface. Thin films formed by a single application of stearic acid solution in n-hexane to a drop of aqueous lanthanum nitrate solution were used for selective enrichment of human butyrylcholinesterase adducts with diisopropyl fluorophosphate.