Application of nanoscale packed capillary liquid chromatography (75 μm id) and capillary zone electrophoresis/electrospray ionization mass spectrometry to the analysis of macrolide antibiotics

Nanoscale separation techniques, nanoscale packed capillary columns (75 μm id), and capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE), on-line with electrospray mass spectrometry (ESI/MS), were applied to the separation of a series of ten macrolide antibiotics. Both techniques use sub-microliter-per-minute flow rates through the analytical column and therefore require an electrospray probe that incorporates coaxial sheath flow. Positive ion electrospray mass spectra of these compounds yielded mainly protonated molecules. Fragmentation to yield structurally significant fragment ions was achieved by collision-induced dissociation (CID) at increased skimmer voltages. Separations were achieved using both techniques, with CZE/ESI/MS showing improved peak shapes and detection limits combined with faster analysis times. Nanoscale packed capillary columns provided better chromatographic resolution and was less susceptible to peak broadening caused by overloading of the analytes.     

Analysis of recombinant and modified proteins by capillary zone electrophoresis coupled with electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry.

A method for rapid characterization of recombinant and modified proteins with known sequences is described. The analytical system consists of a capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) instrument coupled to an electrospray ionization ion trap tandem mass spectrometer via a sheath-flow interface. Following the procedure consists of proteolytic fragmentation, CZE peptide separation, tandem mass spectrometry (MS-MS) analysis of separated peptides, sequence database search and monitoring of the specific peptides, C 125 S mutated interleukin 2 (S-125-IL2) and bovine beta-casein were characterized as a model of recombinant protein and naturally modified protein, respectively. A tryptic peptide mixture derived from the synthetic salmon calcitonin (s-CT) was also analyzed to test the performance of the system. Although a conventional sheath-flow interface with much higher flow-rate compared to the microspray interface and nanospray interface was used, the proteins were identified at the low picomole level.     

Capillary-zone electrophoresis/fast-atom bombardment mass spectrometry: design of an on-line coaxial continuous-flow interface

An on-line coaxial continuous-flow capillary-zone electrophoresis/fast-atom bombardment mass spectrometry (CZE/FAB-MS) interface is described. This interface is shown to be capable of acquiring mass spectra in an on-line fashion from low femtomole amounts of peptides while maintaining high (hundreds of thousands of plates) electrophoretic separation efficiencies. Active electrophoretic transport of the analytes directly to the FAB probe tip obviates the need for a transfer line from the end of the CZE capillary to this point, and thereby precludes the zone broadening that would otherwise occur both within such a transfer line and in the connections between the CZE column and the transfer line. The capability of acquiring an on-line tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) spectrum of an electrophoretically separated analyte using this interface is also demonstrated.     

Separation, detection, and identification of peptides by ion-pair reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization mass spectrometry at high and low pH

Bioactive peptides and tryptic digests of various proteins were separated under acidic and alkaline conditions by ion-pair-reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPIPC) in 200 microm I.D. monolithic, poly(styrene-divinylbenzene)-based capillary columns using gradients of acetonitrile in 0.050% aqueous trifluoroacetic acid, pH 2.1, or 1.0% triethylamine-acetic acid, pH 10.6. Chromatographic performances with mobile phases of low and high-pH were practically equivalent and facilitated the separation of more than 50 tryptic peptides of bovine serum albumin within 15-20 min with peak widths at half height between 4 and 10 s. Neither a significant change in retentivity nor efficiency of the monolithic column was observed during 17-day operation at pH 10.6 and 50 degrees C. Upon separation by RP-HPIPC at high-pH, peptide detectabilities in full-scan negative-ion electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (negESI-MS) were about two to three times lower as compared to RP-HPIPC at low-pH with posESI-MS detection. Tandem mass spectra obtained by fragmentation of deprotonated peptide ions in negative ion mode yielded interpretable sequence information only in a few cases of relatively short peptides. However, in order to obtain sequence information for peptides separated with alkaline mobile phases, tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) could be performed in positive ion mode. The chromatographic selectivities were significantly different in separations performed with acidic and alkaline eluents, which facilitated the fractionation of a complex peptide mixture obtained by the tryptic digestion of 10 proteins utilizing off-line, two-dimensional RP-HPIPC at high pH x RP-HPIPC at low pH and subsequent on-line identification by posESI-MS/MS.     

Electrochemical properties of capillary electrophoresis-nanoelectrospray mass spectrometry

Electrochemical properties are inherent to the techniques of electrophoresis and electrospray ionization. Interfacing capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) with electrospray mass spectrometry (ESMS) can lead to the observation of oxidized species generated as a result of the electrochemical nature of this coupling. Using a nanoelectrospray (nES) interface combined with CZE, controlled chemical oxidation of peptides is demonstrated. The electrolysis of water is used to explain the origin of the chemically oxidized species and this is confirmed using experiments with ¹⁸O labeled water. Identification of the oxidized residues was possible using tandem mass spectrometry to sequence the modified peptides. Methionine was found to be the most readily oxidized residue, followed by aromatic amino acids. Surprisingly, oxidation of aliphatic residues (leucine) was also observed. Addition of a reducing agent to the CZE buffer was found to reduce, but not eliminate, the extent of oxidation. The electrochemical generation of protons at the electrosprayer was used to assist in the analysis of monophosphate nucleotides. Nucleotides were separated as anions followed by detection as [M + H]⁺ ions.     

Identification of phosphorylation sites in phosphopeptides by positive and negative mode electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry

A series of synthetic mono- and diphosphorylated peptides has been analyzed by positive and negative mode electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry. The synthetic peptides are serine- and threonine-phosphorylated analogs of proteolytic fragments from the C-terminal region of rhodopsin. Use of positive and negative modes of electrospray ionization to produce ions for tandem mass spectrometry via low energy collision-induced dissociation was explored. For some of the peptides, the complementary use of experimental results allowed determination of the phosphorylation sites when either mode alone gave incomplete information. Other peptides, however, gave negative ion spectra not interpretable in terms of backbone cleavages. However, use of positive ion tandem mass spectrometry of different charge state precursor ions gave sufficient information in most cases to assign sites of phosphorylation. These results illustrate the utility of obtaining complementary information by tandem mass spectrometry by using precursor ions of different charge polarity or number.     

Tandem mass spectrometry of half-generation PAMAM dendrimer anions

Ions derived from negative electrospray ionization of polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimer generation 0.5 were subjected to ion trap tandem mass spectrometry. Ion/ion proton transfer reactions were used to manipulate the charge states of PAMAM precursor ions to form lower charge states from those initially formed by electrospray, as well as to facilitate the interpretation of the product ion mass spectra. Most of the products derived from dendrimer precursor ions could be rationalized by retro-Michael decomposition reactions. The dominant fragmentation channels are highly dependent on the composition of the counter-ions, which in this case are restricted to different numbers of sodium ions and protons, and whether the precursor ion is multiply charged or singly charged. An interpretation is given that is consistent with all of the observations made with the various anions associated with this study. The nature of the structural information that can be obtained via ion trap tandem mass spectrometry of the dendrimers is dependent on the types of precursor ions subjected to study. The tandem mass spectrometry data also provided information about the structure of faulty synthesis products present in the PAMAM dendrimer sample.     

Hollow-fiber flow field-flow fractionation: a gentle separation method for mass spectrometry of native proteins

Low-impact ionization sources like electrospray ionization (ESI) and matrix-assisted, laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) equipped with time-of-flight (TOF) mass analyzers provide intact protein analysis over a very wide molar mass range. ESI/TOFMS provides also indications on the higher-order structure of intact proteins and non-covalent protein complexes. However, direct analysis of intact proteins mixtures in real samples shows limited success, mainly because spectra become very complex to interpret. This is also due to sample contaminants, and to the mechanism of competitive ionization in ESI or MALDI. Rapid and efficient sample clean-up and separation methods can significantly enhance the power of TOFMS for intact protein analysis. However, if protein native conditions want to be maintained, the methods should affect neither the three-dimensional structure nor the non-covalent chemistry of the proteins. Reversed-phase (RP) HPLC, size-exclusion chromatography (SEC), and capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) are on-line or off-line coupled to ESI/TOFMS or MALDI/TOFMS. In fact, these separation methods often show limitations when applied to the analysis of native proteins. Organic modifiers and saline buffers are required in the case of RP HPLC or CZE. They can induce protein degradation or affect ionization when MS is performed after separation. High voltages used in CZE can contribute to alter proteins from their native form. In the case of high molar mass proteins, SEC is scarcely selective, and barely able to detect protein aggregates. Sample entanglement/adsorption on the stationary phase can also occur.     

Methylating peptides to prevent adduct ion formation also directs cleavage in collision-induced dissociation mass spectrometry

We investigated the effect of N-terminal amino group and carboxyl group methylation on peptide analysis by electrospray mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) and tandem mass spectrometry (ESI-MS/MS). Permethylation of the N-terminal amino group and the carboxyl groups can reduce metal ion adducts but does not enhance sensitivity in electrospray as previously observed for matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) mass spectrometry. N-terminal trimethylated peptides exhibit collision-induced dissociation (CID) tandem mass spectra that differ from their unmodified analogs; the results support the mobile proton hypothesis of peptide fragmentation. A permanent positive charge at the N-terminus leads to competition between permanent-charge directed processes and loss of the N-terminal trimethyl amino group. Carboxyl methylation has no effect on fragmentation behavior other than to shift the mass of fragments containing methylated carboxyl groups. Comparison of regular and tandem mass spectra of different methylated peptides allowed probing the location of incomplete methylation, the proton displaced by alkali metal ions and the purity of a mass-selected methylated peptide ion.     

Combining capillary electrophoresis with mass spectrometry for applications in proteomics

Mass spectrometry (MS)-based proteomics is currently dominated by the analysis of peptides originating either from digestion of proteins separated by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) or from global digestion; the simple peptide mixtures obtained from digestion of gel-separated proteins do not usually require further separation, while the complex peptide mixtures obtained by global digestion are most frequently separated by chromatographic techniques. Capillary electrophoresis (CE) provides alternatives to 2-DE for protein separation and alternatives to chromatography for peptide separation. This review attempts to elucidate how the most promising CE modes, capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) and capillary isoelectric focusing (CIEF), might best be applied to MS-based proteomics. CE-MS interfacing, mass analyzer performance, column coating to minimize analyte adsorption, and sample stacking for CZE are considered prior to examining numerous applications. Finally, multidimensional systems that incorporate CE techniques are examined; CZE often finds use as a fast, final dimension before ionization for MS, while CIEF, being an equilibrium technique, is well-suited to being the first dimension in automated fractionation systems.     

Peptide sequencing through N-terminal phosphonylation and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry

Peptides were phosphonylated at their N-termini by reacting with ethoxyphenylphosphinate in the presence of triethylamine and tetrachloromethane under mild conditions. The phosphonylated peptides were analyzed by tandem electrospray ionization mass spectrometry. N-Terminal phosphonylation selectively increased the intensities of b(n)-type ions relative to other ion types. The resulting simplified mass spectra clearly show the sequential loss of amino acid residues from the C-termini of peptides, providing a convenient and rapid method for peptide sequencing.     

An evaluation of atmospheric pressure ionization techniques for the analysis of N-Methyl carbamate pesticides by liquid chromatography mass spectrometry

Atmospheric pressure ionization (API) techniques are evaluated for the mass spectral analysis of N-methyl carbamate pesticides. Atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) using a heated nebulizer interface provided both protonated molecules and abundant, characteristic fragment ions. With ion spray (ISP; pneumatically assisted electrospray ionization), which utilizes a milder “ion evaporation” process, primarily protonated molecules were obtained, although fragment ions similar to those observed in APCI could be induced by variation of the API orifice voltage. Product ion spectra of ISP-derived protonated molecules, generated by tandem mass spectrometry using collision-induced dissociation, are also presented. The APCI and ISP spectra of the carbamates are compared to those obtained with a thermospray interface and also to their electron ionization and methane CI spectra obtained with a particle beam interface. For all four interfaces, combined liquid chromatography mass spectrometry methods using conventional (4.6 mm i.d.) columns are described for the separation and detection of pesticide mixtures. These methods are applied to the confirmatory analysis of three representative carbamate pesticides, spiked at the 0.1-ppm level in green peppers. For those carbamates amenable to gas chromatography mass spectrometry, comparative results are presented.     

Sheath liquid effects in capillary high-performance liquid chromatography-electrospray mass spectrometry of oligonucleotides

Fused-silica capillary columns of 200 μm inner diameter were packed with micropellicular, octadecylated, 2.3 μm poly(styrene–divinylbenzene) particles and applied to the separation of oligonucleotides by ion-pair reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography. Oligonucleotides were eluted at 50°C with gradients of 3–13% acetonitrile in 50 mM triethylammonium bicarbonate. Addition of sheath liquid to the column effluent allowed the detection of oligonucleotides by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry using full-scan data acquisition with a detectability comparable to that obtained with UV detection. The signal-to-noise ratios with different sheath liquids increased in the order isopropanol相似文献   

Recent advances in capillary electrophoresis‐mass spectrometry: Instrumentation,methodology and applications

Capillary electrophoresis (CE) offers fast and high‐resolution separation of charged analytes from small injection volumes. Coupled to mass spectrometry (MS), it represents a powerful analytical technique providing (exact) mass information and enables molecular characterization based on fragmentation. Although hyphenation of CE and MS is not straightforward, much emphasis has been placed on enabling efficient ionization and user‐friendly coupling. Though several interfaces are now commercially available, research on more efficient and robust interfacing with nano‐electrospray ionization (ESI), matrix‐assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP) continues with considerable results. At the same time, CE‐MS has been used in many fields, predominantly for the analysis of proteins, peptides and metabolites. This review belongs to a series of regularly published articles, summarizing 248 articles covering the time between June 2016 and May 2018. Latest developments on hyphenation of CE with MS as well as instrumental developments such as two‐dimensional separation systems with MS detection are mentioned. Furthermore, applications of various CE‐modes including capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE), nonaqueous capillary electrophoresis (NACE), capillary gel electrophoresis (CGE) and capillary isoelectric focusing (CIEF) coupled to MS in biological, pharmaceutical and environmental research are summarized.     

Peptides derivatized with bicyclic quaternary ammonium ionization tags. Sequencing via tandem mass spectrometry

Improving the sensitivity of detection and fragmentation of peptides to provide reliable sequencing of peptides is an important goal of mass spectrometric analysis. Peptides derivatized by bicyclic quaternary ammonium ionization tags: 1‐azabicyclo[2.2.2]octane (ABCO) or 1,4‐diazabicyclo[2.2.2]octane (DABCO), are characterized by an increased detection sensitivity in electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI‐MS) and longer retention times on the reverse‐phase (RP) chromatography columns. The improvement of the detection limit was observed even for peptides dissolved in 10 mM NaCl. Collision‐induced dissociation tandem mass spectrometry of quaternary ammonium salts derivatives of peptides showed dominant a‐ and b‐type ions, allowing facile sequencing of peptides. The bicyclic ionization tags are stable in collision‐induced dissociation experiments, and the resulted fragmentation pattern is not significantly influenced by either acidic or basic amino acid residues in the peptide sequence. Obtained results indicate the general usefulness of the bicyclic quaternary ammonium ionization tags for ESI‐MS/MS sequencing of peptides. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Evaluation of capillary liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization ion mobility spectrometry with mass spectrometry detection

Due to the proteomics revolution, multi-dimensional separation and detection instruments are required to evaluate many peptides and proteins in single samples. In this study, electrospray ionization (ESI) ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) was evaluated as an additional separation after HPLC separations. Common HPLC mobile phase compositions (solvents, acid modifiers, and buffers) were assessed for the effect on ESI-IMS response. Up to 5 mM sodium phosphate, a non-volatile buffer, was able to be electrosprayed into the IMS without degradation of the instrumental performance. Due to the rapid separation times of IMS, multiple IMS spectra were obtained within a single HPLC peak. A five-peptide mixture was separated in a capillary HPLC column under isocratic conditions within 3 min. Coelution of two peaks due to non-optimal HPLC conditions occurred and these two peaks could not be distinguished by HPLC with UV detection. In contrast, the single ion mobility chromatograms provided separation of each peptide as well as providing a second degree of analyte identification (HPLC retention time and IMS mobility). Furthermore, IMS-MS analysis of the five peptides and comparison with HPLC retention times showed that each peptide had a unique retention time-ion mobility-mass to charge value. This work showed that IMS could be employed for direct separation and detection of HPLC eluents and also could be combined with HPLC-MS for three unique dimensions of separation.     

Comparison of flow injection analysis electrospray mass spectrometry and tandem mass spectrometry and electrospray high-field asymmetric waveform ion mobility mass spectrometry and tandem mass spectrometry for the determination of underivatized amino acids

Twenty proteinogenic amino acids (AAs) were determined without derivatization using flow injection analysis followed by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry and tandem mass spectrometry (ESI-MS and ESI-MS/MS) and electrospray ionization high-field asymmetric waveform ion mobility mass spectrometry and tandem mass spectrometry (ESI-FAIMS-MS and ESI-FAIMS-MS/MS), in positive and negative ionization modes. Three separate sets of ESI-FAIMS conditions were used for the separation and detection of the 20 AAs. Typically ESI-FAIMS-MS showed somewhat improved sensitivity and significantly better signal-to-noise ratios than ESI-MS mainly due to the elimination of background noise. However, the difference between ESI-FAIMS-MS and ESI-MS/MS was significantly less. ESI-FAIMS was able to partially or completely resolve all the isobaric amino acid overlaps such as leucine, isoleucine and hydroxyproline or lysine and glutamine. Detection limits for the amino acids in ESI-FAIMS-MS mode ranged from 2 ng/mL for proline to 200 ng/mL for aspartic acid. Overall, ESI-FAIMS-MS is the preferred method for the quantitative analysis of AAs in a hydrolyzed yeast matrix.     

Tandem mass spectrometry of model peptides modified with trans-2-hexenal, a product of lipid peroxidation

Small molecules formed during lipid peroxidation can react with the basic groups in proteins through different mechanisms. Recently, substituted pyridinium moieties were observed during in vitro incubations of lysine-containing peptides with 2-alkenals. To explore the dissociation behavior of peptides with pyridinium-derivatized lysine residues, the peptide ions created through either matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization or electrospray ionization were studied with tandem mass spectrometry. The permanently charged pyridinium ions fragment primarily through the charge-remote processes. Under high energy collision-induced dissociation, a number of diagnostic ions were observed that could potentially be used to identify modified residues in proteins. The origins of these ions were studied using deuterium exchange and higher-order mass spectrometry experiments using an ion trap instrument. Rational structures for these ions are proposed.     

超高效液相色谱-电喷雾串联质谱法分离鉴定烟草中5种糖苷类香味前体物质

采用超高效液相色谱-电喷雾串联质谱法(UPLC-ESI MS/MS)并结合气相色谱-质谱法分离鉴定了烟草中5种主要的糖苷类香味前体物质。烟样经甲醇提取、XAD-2柱净化,得到初步纯化的糖苷,在pH 5条件下将其酶解,释放出糖苷配基。采用气相色谱-质谱分析并通过标准谱库检索确定了5种挥发性苷元;然后通过电喷雾质谱(负离子模式)确定糖苷母离子并作碎片离子扫描(MS2),确定了5种糖苷类香味前体物质的存在形式;最后采用UPLC-ESI MS/MS,以甲醇和乙酸-乙酸铵水溶液为流动相,通过RP-C18柱分离,在多反应监测(MRM)模式下,鉴定了烟草中5种主要的糖苷类香味前体物质,为应用液相色谱-质谱分析缺乏标准样品的糖苷类香味前体物质奠定了基础。     

Charge permutation reactions in tandem mass spectrometry

Central to the tandem mass spectrometry experiment is the process that gives rise to product ions, i.e. the reaction intermediate to stages of mass analysis. Changes in mass or charge of the parent ion (or both) are generally readily detected by all forms of tandem mass spectrometry. Charge changing, or charge permutation, reactions have a long history in mass spectrometry. However, with the advent of new ionization methods, such as electrospray ionization, and the expansion of tandem mass spectrometry instrumentation to include ion trapping instruments, the past decade has seen a major increase in the types of charge permutation reactions that can be studied. Most charge permutation reactions involve electrons or protons as the charge mediating agents. This report, therefore, provides an overview of charge permutation reactions involving protons or electrons. Particular emphasis is placed on processes that involve interactions of precursor ions with gaseous neutral species, electrons or oppositely charged ions. Charge permutation reactions involving electron gain/loss are described first according to a rough order of the energy required for the reaction beginning with the most endoergic reactions and ending with the most exoergic reactions. An analogous approach is then taken with charge permutation reactions involving proton gain/loss. Important charge permutation reactions discussed herein, among others, include those referred to as charge inversion, charge stripping, electron capture dissociation, collision-induced ionization and charge separation. These reaction types, and others described herein, are the subjects of active research and are also finding use in many current areas of application. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.