Characterization of N‐methylated amino acids by GC‐MS after ethyl chloroformate derivatization

Methylation is an essential metabolic process in the biological systems, and it is significant for several biological reactions in living organisms. Methylated compounds are known to be involved in most of the bodily functions, and some of them serve as biomarkers. Theoretically, all α‐amino acids can be methylated, and it is possible to encounter them in most animal/plant samples. But the analytical data, especially the mass spectral data, are available only for a few of the methylated amino acids. Thus, it is essential to generate mass spectral data and to develop mass spectrometry methods for the identification of all possible methylated amino acids for future metabolomic studies. In this study, all N‐methyl and N,N‐dimethyl amino acids were synthesized by the methylation of α‐amino acids and characterized by a GC‐MS method. The methylated amino acids were derivatized with ethyl chloroformate and analyzed by GC‐MS under EI and methane/CI conditions. The EI mass spectra of ethyl chloroformate derivatives of N‐methyl ( 1–18 ) and N,N‐dimethyl amino acids ( 19–35 ) showed abundant [M‐COOC₂H₅]⁺ ions. The fragment ions due to loss of C₂H₄, CO₂, (CO₂ + C₂H₄) from [M‐COOC₂H₅]⁺ were of structure indicative for 1–18 . The EI spectra of 19–35 showed less number of fragment ions when compared with those of 1–18 . The side chain group (R) caused specific fragment ions characteristic to its structure. The methane/CI spectra of the studied compounds showed [M + H]⁺ ions to substantiate their molecular weights. The detected EI fragment ions were characteristic of the structure that made easy identification of the studied compounds, including isomeric/isobaric compounds. Fragmentation patterns of the studied compounds ( 1–35 ) were confirmed by high‐resolution mass spectra data and further substantiated by the data obtained from ¹³C₂‐labeled glycines and N‐ethoxycarbonyl methoxy esters. The method was applied to human plasma samples for the identification of amino acids and methylated amino acids. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

On the conformational stability and dimerization of phosphotransferase enzyme I from Escherichia coli

The activity of enzyme I (EI), the first protein in the bacterial PEP:sugar phosphotransferase system, is regulated by a monomer–dimer equilibrium where a Mg²⁺-dependent autophosphorylation by PEP requires the homodimer. Using inactive EI(H189A), in which alanine is substituted for the active-site His189, substrate binding effects can be separated from those of phosphorylation. Whereas 1 mM PEP (with 2 mM Mg²⁺) strongly promotes dimerization of EI(H189A) at pH 7.5 and 20 °C, 5 mM pyruvate (with 2 mM Mg²⁺) has the opposite effect. A correlation between the coupling of N- and C-terminal domain unfolding, measured by differential scanning calorimetry, and the dimerization constant for EI, determined by sedimentation equilibrium, is observed. That is, when the coupling between N- and C-terminal domain unfolding produced by 0.2 or 1.0 mM PEP and 2 mM Mg²⁺ is inhibited by 5 mM pyruvate, the dimerization constant for EI(H189A) decreases from >10⁸ to <5 × 10⁵ or 3 × 10⁷ M⁻¹, respectively. With 2 mM Mg²⁺ at 15–25 °C and pH 7.5, PEP has been found to bind to one site/monomer of EI(H189A) with K_A′10⁶ M⁻¹ (ΔG′=−33.7±0.2 kJ mol⁻¹ and ΔH=+16.3 kJ mol⁻¹ at 20 °C with ΔC_p=−1.4 kJ K⁻¹ mol⁻¹). The binding of PEP to EI(H189A) is synergistic with that of Mg²⁺. Thus, physiological concentrations of PEP and Mg²⁺ increase, whereas pyruvate and Mg²⁺ decrease the amount of dimeric, active, dephospho-enzyme I.     

Simultaneous determination of estrogenic and androgenic hormones in water by isotope dilution gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

A rapid gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS) analytical method was developed for the simultaneous analysis of 7 estrogenic hormones (17α-estradiol, 17β-estradiol, estrone, mestranol, 17α-ethynylestradiol, levonorgestrel, estriol) and 5 androgenic hormones (testosterone, androsterone, etiocholanolone, dihydrotestosterone, androstenedione) in aqueous matrices. This method is unique in its inclusion of all 12 of these estrogens and androgens and is of particular value due to its very short chromatographic run time of 15 min. The use of isotope dilution for all analytes ensures the accurate quantification, accounting for analytical variabilities that may be introduced during sample processing and instrumental analysis. Direct isotopically labelled analogues were used for 8 of the 12 hormones and satisfactory isotope standards were identified for the remaining 4 hormones. Method detection levels (MDLs) were determined to describe analyte concentrations sufficient to provide a signal with 99% certainty of detection. The established MDLs for most analytes were 1-5 ngL(-1) in a variety of aqueous matrices. However, slightly higher MDLs were observed for etiocholanolone, androstenedione, testosterone, levonorgestrel and dihydrotestosterone in some aqueous matrices. Sample matrices were observed to have only a minor impact on MDLs and the method validation confirmed satisfactory method stability over intra-day and inter-day analyses of surface water and tertiary treated effluent samples.     

Comparison of EI and metastable atom bombardment ionization for the identification of polyurethane thermal degradation products

Polyurethanes are widely used in the manufacture of commercial products such as foams and paints. During combustion, these polymers can generate isocyanates, which induce adverse health effects. Polymer pyrolysis (Py) hyphenated with mass spectrometry (MS) allows the investigation of polymer thermal degradation over time/temperature. A diphenylmethanediisocyanate (MDI) polyurethane foam was analyzed with electron ionization (EI) and metastable atom bombardment (MAB) ionization at a pyrolysis temperature of 400 °C. The recently introduced MAB ionization source uses discrete energy stored in metastable atoms of gases to ionize the analytes. This characteristic allows modulation of the ionization energy by simply changing the ionization gas. The extensive fragmentation of molecular ions observed using EI 70 eV is not totally eliminated with EI 10 eV. However, only molecular ions are observed with MAB using N₂ as the ionization gas. Temperature gradients were used to separate the products generated during the thermal degradation of a 1,6-hexamethylenediisocyanate (HDI) polyurethane paint. The analysis of mass spectra was facilitated owing to a selective desorption of pyrolysis products. Furthermore, changing the MAB ionization gas allows elucidation of the structure of the pyrolysis products by controlling the extent of their fragmentation. During these experiments, isocyanic acid, methyleneisocyanate, ethyleneisocyanate, propylisocyanate and butylisocyanate were detected.     

用高分辨质谱研究二茂铁类化合物

研究了八种N－二茂铁甲基苯胺衍生物的电子电离质谱（EI－MS），并与快原子轰击质谱（FAB－MS）作了比较，讨论了这些化合物的质谱特征。通过精确质量测量，确认了M^ -2 OH离子，并采用碰撞诱导裂解（CID）探讨了化合物质谱中主要离子间的关系。     

聚丙烯中硫酯类抗氧剂的质谱分析

采用齐格勒-钠塔催化剂使丙烯催化聚合得到聚丙烯。聚丙烯树脂本身具有优良的性能,如机械强度好,易加工成型,质量轻,成本低等,但也存在一些缺陷,如由于聚丙烯结构中存在叔碳原子,在造粒加工、贮存和使用过程中,易受热、光、氧等的作用而降解,导致材料的性能降低。为了抑制和延缓聚丙烯的氧化降解,需要在造粒阶段加入抗氧剂。本文以一种聚丙烯树脂样品为研究对象,采用溶剂抽提法提取有机添加剂,并用柱层析法对添加剂进行了分离;利用EI-MS分析了添加剂的组成,其中通过谱图解析,鉴定出添加剂中含有硫酯类抗氧剂-硫代二丙酸二(十四)酯(DMTP),并用此类常用化合物进行了验证,分析结果对树脂牌号的开发具有指导意义。     

An Explanation on the Electron Ionization Mass Spectra of Crown Ethers by MNDO Computational Method

ＡｎＥｘｐｌａｎａｔｉｏｎｏｎｔｈｅＥｌｅｃｔｒｏｎＩｏｎｉｚａｔｉｏｎＭａｓｓＳｐｅｃｔｒａｏｆＣｒｏｗｎＥｔｈｅｒｓｂｙＭＮＤＯＣｏｍｐｕｔａｔｉｏｎａｌＭｅｔｈｏｄＹＵＡＮＨｕ－ｓｈａｎ，ＴＡＮＧＭｉｎｇ－ｓｈｅｎｇａｎｄＷＵＹａｎｇ－ｊｉｅ（...     

2-氨基-3-硝基吡啶和2-氨基-5-硝基吡啶的EI/MS/MS分析

2 氨基 3 硝基吡啶和2 氨基 5 硝基吡啶的一级质谱图接近,单纯通过一级质谱图较难区分这两种异构体,利用离子阱质谱的串联质谱技术对2 氨基 3 硝基吡啶和2 氨基 5 硝基吡啶在离子阱内以He作碰撞气进行碰撞诱导裂解,所得的二级质谱图表明,两者之间存在明显的差别,可用于2 氨基 3 硝基吡啶和2 氨基 5 硝基吡啶的鉴别。     

两种离子化技术气相色谱-质谱法测定橄榄油中甾醇烯类物质的比较

分别采用电子轰击(EI)和正化学电离(PCI)两种离子源技术建立了气相色谱-质谱联用法(GC-MS)同时测定橄榄油中3,5-菜甾二烯、3,5,22-豆甾三烯和3,5-豆甾二烯3种甾醇烯含量的方法,并对这两种方法进行了比较。样品经石油醚溶解,硅胶柱净化后,分别采用GC-EI/MS和GC-PCI/MS分时段选择离子监测模式进行测定,以3,5-胆甾二烯为内标进行定量。结果表明,两种方法的线性、准确度、精密度、灵敏度均较好。3,5-菜甾二烯、3,5,22-豆甾三烯和3,5-豆甾二烯分别在0.024~0.48、0.02~0.50和0.03~0.75 mg/L浓度范围内线性关系良好(r>0.999)。在3个加标水平下,GC-EI/MS和GC-PCI/MS的平均回收率分别为88.7%~99.5%、87.1%~109.2%,两种检测方法的相对标准偏差(RSD,n=6)均不超过8.3%。定量限(S/N=10)分别为0.03 mg/kg(EI),0.03~0.10 mg/kg(PCI)。通过对两种方法的比较研究发现,EI能提供更多碎片离子和结构信息,而PCI中则主要为准分子离子及反应气加合离子。应用于样品中甾醇烯的测定时,PCI的选择性和抗干扰能力明显优于EI。两种方法可相互补充和替代应用于日常检测中。     

两种离子源技术气相色谱-质谱法检测茶叶中酰胺类除草剂的残留量

采用电子轰击(EI)和负化学(NCI)离子源两种离子源技术气相色谱-质谱联用法(GC