Determination of Malathion Using Corona Discharge – Ion Mobility Spectrometry with Solid-Phase Microextraction

A corona discharge (CD) ion mobility spectrometer combined with solid-phase microextraction was constructed. The detection limit and stability of the system for malathion detection were improved using a novel sample introduction port through which the sample desorption was performed in high-temperature drift tube and the sample was introduced directly to the ionization area. The working parameters of the distance between CD needle tip and carrier gas outlet, the drift tube and carrier gas temperature, the carrier gas flow, and the voltage on CD needle were selected. When the extraction time for standard malathion was set to 5?min, the detection limit was 0.96?µg?L^?1 based on thrice the baseline noise, the linear range was 50–500?µg?L^?1, the correlation coefficient was approximately 0.9941, and the relative standard deviation was below 10%. Malathion-spiked lake water samples were analyzed using the developed system and the recovery was 92–102%. This method is suitable for the rapid detection of organophosphorus pesticide residues.     

Quantification of Volatile Aldehydes Deriving from In Vitro Lipid Peroxidation in the Breath of Ventilated Patients

Exhaled aliphatic aldehydes were proposed as non-invasive biomarkers to detect increased lipid peroxidation in various diseases. As a prelude to clinical application of the multicapillary column–ion mobility spectrometry for the evaluation of aldehyde exhalation, we, therefore: (1) identified the most abundant volatile aliphatic aldehydes originating from in vitro oxidation of various polyunsaturated fatty acids; (2) evaluated emittance of aldehydes from plastic parts of the breathing circuit; (3) conducted a pilot study for in vivo quantification of exhaled aldehydes in mechanically ventilated patients. Pentanal, hexanal, heptanal, and nonanal were quantifiable in the headspace of oxidizing polyunsaturated fatty acids, with pentanal and hexanal predominating. Plastic parts of the breathing circuit emitted hexanal, octanal, nonanal, and decanal, whereby nonanal and decanal were ubiquitous and pentanal or heptanal not being detected. Only pentanal was quantifiable in breath of mechanically ventilated surgical patients with a mean exhaled concentration of 13 ± 5 ppb. An explorative analysis suggested that pentanal exhalation is associated with mechanical power—a measure for the invasiveness of mechanical ventilation. In conclusion, exhaled pentanal is a promising non-invasive biomarker for lipid peroxidation inducing pathologies, and should be evaluated in future clinical studies, particularly for detection of lung injury.     

电动分离统一理论

在真空、气相和液相中实施线性电动分离,创造出了质谱、离子淌度谱、电泳和毛细管电泳等,但它们却未成体系,各自发展,各有理论,互不相关。该文从牛顿力学第二定律出发结合静电学理论,推导出了它们的统一运动方程,并由此推演出并简要讨论了上述各法自己的通用运动子方程和测量模式。这些方程不仅有利于系统化这些现存方法,也可用于推导和发现新型电动分离模式。     

Automated peak width measurements for targeted analysis of ion mobility unresolved species

Peak broadening in ion mobility (IM) is a relatively predictable process and abnormally broad peaks can be indicative of the presence of unresolved species. Here, we introduce a new ion mobility peak fitting (IM_FIT) software package for automated and systematic determination of traveling wave ion mobility (TWIM) unresolved species. To identify IM unresolved species, the IM_FIT software generates a trend line by plotting ions' mobility peak widths as a function of their arrival times. Utilizing user-defined thresholds, IM_FIT allows for automated and rapid detection of ions that deviate from the peak width trend line. To demonstrate the advantages of IM_FIT for automated detection of IM unresolved species, IM-mass spectrometry (IM-MS) data from a sample mixture containing polypropylene glycol and multiple peptides were analyzed. A total of 14 out of the 34 observed singly-charged IM peaks above 5% relative abundance (i.e., signal-to-noise ratios above ∼200) were tagged as potentially co-eluting ions by IM_FIT. Subsequently, the 14 IM peaks tagged as potentially unresolved (presumably, peaks corresponding to co-eluting compounds), were further analyzed by automated IM deconvolution (AIMD), liquid chromatography-IM-MS (LC-IM-MS), and/or ultra-high resolution mass spectrometry. Using the aforementioned techniques, more than 85% of the tagged IM peaks (12 out of 14) were confirmed to contain co-eluting ions. As an additional new finding, IM_FIT facilitated the discovery of an unexpected sequence-scrambled y-type fragment ion.     

Separation and characterization of oxidized isomeric lipid–peptide adducts by ion mobility mass spectrometry

Phospholipids are major components of cell membranes and lipoprotein complexes. They are prone to oxidation by endogenous and exogenous reactive oxygen species yielding a large variety of modified lipids including small aliphatic and phospholipid bound aldehydes and ketones. These carbonyls are strong electrophiles that can modify proteins and, thereby, alter their structures and functions triggering various pathophysiological conditions. The analysis of lipid–protein adducts by liquid chromatography‐MS is challenged by their mixed chemical nature (polar peptide and hydrophobic lipid), low abundance in biological samples, and formation of multiple isomers. Thus, we investigated traveling wave ion mobility mass spectrometry (TWIMS) to analyze lipid–peptide adducts generated by incubating model peptides corresponding to the amphipathic β₁ sheet sequence of apolipoprotein B‐100 with 1‐palmitoyl‐2‐(oxo‐nonanoyl)‐sn‐glycerophosphatidylcholine (PONPC). The complex mixture of peptides, lipids, and peptide–lipid adducts was separated by TWIMS, which was especially important for the identification of two mono‐PONPC‐peptide isomers containing Schiff bases at different lysine residues. Moreover, TWIMS separated structural conformers of one peptide–lipid adduct possessing most likely different orientations of the hydrophobic sn‐1 fatty acyl residue and head group of PONPC, relative to the peptide backbone. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Coupling of SPME with MCC/UV–IMS as a tool for rapid on-site detection of groundwater and surface water contamination

The combination of headspace solid phase microextraction (HS-SPME) [1] with fast chromatographic pre-separation by means of multi-capillary columns (MCC) coupled to an ion mobility spectrometer equipped with a 10.6 eV photoionisation source was applied to rapid on-site monitoring of ground and surface water contaminations. Under field conditions, water contaminants were directly detectable down to the upper g/L range. The potential of the developed method is illustrated by measurements of BTEX, naphthalene, chlorinated alkenes and chlorinated benzenes in water. Practical results from investigations of contaminated groundwater at a former gasworks site and groundwater from the site of a metal processing plant, focusing on the key substances benzene, naphthalene and tetrachloroethene, demonstrate the feasibility of the system for field studies.Dedicated to the memory of Wilhelm Fresenius. One of the authors (D. Klockow) feels very much indebeted to Prof. Fresenius because of the steady support and advice he received through him, as a professional and as a private person.     

Rapid detection of a foreign protein in milk using IMS–SERS

A method for rapid detection of foreign protein contamination in complex food matrices is critically needed. Here we present a novel method that combines immunomagnetic separation (IMS) and surface‐enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) to detect ovalbumin (OVA), an egg white protein, added into whole milk. IMS was used to specifically capture the OVA out of the milk. Then SERS was applied to analyze the IMS eluate using silver dendrites as the substrate. Two SERS sample preparation methods, namely solution based and substrate based, were used to prepare the IMS eluate for SERS analysis. Results show both methods were able to detect 1 µg OVA in 1 ml milk (1 part per million). Based on the results of principal component analysis and partial least‐squares analysis, solution SERS was more capable of quantitative analysis, while substrate SERS was more sensitive for qualitative analysis. The total analytical time for IMS–SERS was less than 20 min, which satisfied the requirement of rapid detection in a milk processing facility. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

萃取纳升喷雾-离子迁移谱法现场快速筛查化妆品中8种禁用抗生素

采用萃取纳升喷雾结合离子迁移谱技术,建立了化妆品中8种禁用抗生素的现场快速筛查方法。对萃取纳升喷雾毛细管拉制条件、萃取纳升喷雾离子化条件、离子迁移谱检测条件等进行了详细考察和优化。在优化的实验条件下,8种禁用抗生素的方法检出限为20 mg/kg,离子迁移谱分析时间小于20 ms,单个样品全部检测时间不超过30 s。对于筛检出的疑似阳性样品,进一步采用超高效液相色谱-串联质谱进行确证。该方法流程简便、快捷高效,为化妆品中违禁组分的现场快速筛查提供了较为广阔的应用前景。     

MALDI coupled to modified traveling wave ion mobility mass spectrometry for fast enantiomeric determination

In this work, the use of MALDI traveling wave ion mobility spectrometry‐mass spectrometry (MALDI‐TWIMS‐MS) for stereoselective structural analysis of direct cleavage and identification of 2‐substituted piperidines obtained through solid‐phase asymmetric synthesis by using heterogeneous 8‐phenylmenthyl‐based chiral auxiliary resins. A strategy for gas‐phase chiral and structural characterization of small molecular weight molecules by using MALDI‐IMS‐MS technique is discussed. Because both MALDI and IMS do not directly offer chiral resolution, an easy methodology by adding a chiral phase is described to carry out in situ online ion/molecule complexation with different chiral analytes inside the mass spectrometer. Piperidine enantiomers were resolved, and separation obtained shows dependence of surface areas. To corroborate this assumption and elucidate the separation mechanism to accomplish an analytical technique by which fast determination of the chirality of molecules may be determined for a wide range organic compound applications, it was performed DFT calculations to determine the cross‐sectional areas of proton‐bound dimer complexes. Drift times are affected by cross‐sectional areas, correlating bigger times with bigger molecular volumes during the ion mobility experiments of proton‐bound dimer complexes.