Recent advances in the application of capillary electrophoresis with mass spectrometric detection

This review gives an overview of applications of CE coupled to MS detection published in the literature of the last three years. The works discussed in this paper comprise a wide range of different fields of application. These include important sections such as the analysis of biomolecules, the analysis of pharmaceuticals and their metabolites in different matrices, environmental analysis, and also investigations on the composition of technical products.     

Recent advances in the mass spectrometric analysis related to endocrine disrupting compounds in aquatic environmental samples

An overview of mass spectrometric methods used for the determination of endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) in environmental samples is presented. Among the EDCs we have selected five groups of compounds that are of priority within European Union and US research activities: alkylphenols, polychlorinated compounds (dioxins, furans and biphenyls), polybrominated diphenyl ethers, phthalates and steroid sex hormones. Various aspects of current LC-MS and GC-MS methodology, including sample preparation, are discussed.     

Recent methodological advances in MALDI mass spectrometry

Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS) is widely used for characterization of large, thermally labile biomolecules. Advantages of this analytical technique are high sensitivity, robustness, high-throughput capacity, and applicability to a wide range of compound classes. For some years, MALDI-MS has also been increasingly used for mass spectrometric imaging as well as in other areas of clinical research. Recently, several new concepts have been presented that have the potential to further advance the performance characteristics of MALDI. Among these innovations are novel matrices with low proton affinities for particularly efficient protonation of analyte molecules, use of wavelength-tunable lasers to achieve optimum excitation conditions, and use of liquid matrices for improved quantification. Instrumental modifications have also made possible MALDI-MS imaging with cellular resolution as well as an efficient generation of multiply charged MALDI ions by use of heated vacuum interfaces. This article reviews these recent innovations and gives the author’s personal outlook of possible future developments.

Recent developments in nanoparticle-based MALDI mass spectrometric analysis of phosphoproteomes

Mass spectrometry-based strategies are widely used for mapping of post-translational modifications of phosphoproteins. However, the presence of large amounts of non-phosphopeptides seriously interferes by suppressing the intensities of signals for phosphopeptides in direct MALDI-MS techniques due to the low stoichiometry of protein phosphorylation. Several MALDI-MS approaches are known which use either nanoparticles (NPs) as affinity probes, or NPs as microwave heat absorbers. They assist in the enrichment of trace levels of phosphopeptides from complex protein digests and require minimal sample pretreatment, digestion times, and sample volume. This leads to enhance sensitivity and selectivity in the analysis of the phosphoproteomes. This review (with 89 refs.) summarizes and discusses recent developments in the field, with a particular focus on the potential use of nanomaterials such as metal oxides, metal NPs, NPs-coated target plates, and as core-shell nanocomposites acting as affinity probes and as heat absorbers in MALDI-MS analysis of phosphoproteomes.

电感耦合等离子体质谱技术最新进展

对1998年以来电感耦合等离子体质谱技术（ICP－MS）的最新进展作一简要回顾。内容包括同位素比值分析、双聚焦扇形磁场高分辨ICP－MS、多接收器磁扇形等离子体质谱仪（MC－ICP－MS）、飞行时间等离子体质谱仪（ICP－TOF－MS）、“冷”等离子体及屏蔽炬技术以及动态碰撞／反应池技术等进展。     

Recent advances of chromatography and mass spectrometry in lipidomics

Lipidomics, as a novel branch of metabolomics, which is aimed at comprehensive analysis of lipids and their biological roles with respect to health and diseases, has attracted increased attention from biological and analytical scientists. As a result of the complexity and diversity of lipids, accurate identification and efficient separation are required for lipidomics analysis. Mass spectrometry (MS) and chromatography have been extensively developed in the past few decades and hold a distinguished position in qualification and separation science. They are powerful and indispensable tools for lipidomics. Herein, we present the recent advancement of MS, chromatography, and their hyphenation technologies in lipidomics.     

Neutron activation and mass spectrometric measurement of129I

An integrated procedure has been developed for measurement of¹²⁹I by neutron activation analysis and mass spectrometry. An iodine isolation procedure previously used for neutron activation has been modified to provide separated iodine suitable for mass spectrometric measurement as well. Agreement between both methods has been achieved within error limits. The measurement limit by each method is about 10⁷ atoms /2 fg/ of¹²⁹I.Operated for the U.S. Department of Energy by Battelle Memorial Institute under contract DE-AC06-76RL0 1830.     

Recent advances in supercritical fluid chromatography/mass spectrometry

A summary of the recent advances in SFC/MS is included in this review. Interface designs are described as well as the key control variables. Finally, future developments in SFC/MS are predicted.     

Recent liquid chromatographic-(tandem) mass spectrometric applications in proteomics

Conventional proteomics makes use of two-dimensional gel electrophoresis followed by mass spectrometric analysis of tryptic fragments derived from in-gel digestion of proteins. Although being a very strong technique capable of separating and visualizing hundreds of proteins, 2D-gel electrophoresis has some well-documented disadvantages as well. More recently, liquid chromatographic-(tandem) mass spectrometric techniques have been developed to overcome some of the shortcomings of 2D-gel electrophoresis. In this review we have described several recent applications of liquid chromatography-(tandem) mass spectrometry in the field of proteomics and especially in the field of membrane proteomics, quantitative proteomics and in the analysis of post-translational modifications.     

Recent developments of nanoparticle-based enrichment methods for mass spectrometric analysis in proteomics

In proteome research, rapid and effective separation strategies are essential for successful protein identification due to the broad dynamic range of proteins in biological samples. Some important proteins are often expressed in ultra low abundance, thus making the pre-concentration procedure before mass spectrometric analysis prerequisite. The main purpose of enrichment is to isolate target molecules from complex mixtures to reduce sample complexity and facilitate the subsequent analyzing steps. The introd...     

Recent advances in the application of mass spectrometry in food-related analysis

A review is presented on recent applications of mass spectrometry (MS)-based techniques for the analysis of compounds of food concern. Substances discussed are naturally occurring compounds in food products such as lipids, oligosaccharides, proteins, vitamins, flavonoids and related substances, phenolic compounds and aroma compounds. Among xenobiotics, applications of MS techniques for the analysis of pesticides, drug residues, toxins, amines and migrants from packaging are overviewed. Advances in the analysis of trace metals of nutritional and toxicological interest by MS with inductively coupled plasma (ICP) source are presented. The main features of mass spectrometry combined with separation instruments are discussed in food-related analysis. Examples of mass spectrometry and tandem MS (MS-MS) are provided. The development and application of matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) and electrospray (ESI) to the analysis of peptides and proteins in food is discussed. This survey will attempt to cover the state-of-the-art up from 1999 to 2001.     

Recent advances in computational analysis of mass spectrometry for proteomic profiling

The proteome, defined as an organism's proteins and their actions, is a highly complex end-effector of molecular and cellular events. Differing amounts of proteins in a sample can be indicators of an individual's health status; thus, it is valuable to identify key proteins that serve as 'biomarkers' for diseases. Since the proteome cannot be simply inferred from the genome due to pre- and posttranslational modifications, a direct approach toward mapping the proteome must be taken. The difficulty in evaluating a large number of individual proteins has been eased with the development of high-throughput methods based on mass spectrometry (MS) of peptide or protein mixtures, bypassing the time-consuming, laborious process of protein purification. However, proteomic profiling by MS requires extensive computational analysis. This article describes key issues and recent advances in computational analysis of mass spectra for biomarker identification.     

Recent advances in mass spectrometry analysis of low molecular weight heparins

Low molecular weight heparins (LMWHs) are the most widely used anticoagulant drugs produced by chemical or enzymatic modification of parent heparin polysaccharides. The present article reviews recent advances in orthogonal and complementary mass spectrometry (MS) methodologies towards complete elucidation of natural and modified structures in LMWHs that possibly affect the drug quality, safety and efficacy.     

Recent advances of ambient ionization mass spectrometry imaging in clinical research

The structural information and spatial distribution of molecules in biological tissues are closely related to the potential molecular mechanisms of disease origin, transfer, and classification. Ambient ionization mass spectrometry imaging is an effective tool that provides molecular images while describing in situ information of biomolecules in complex samples, in which ionization occurs at atmospheric pressure with the samples being analyzed in the native state. Ambient ionization mass spectrometry imaging can directly analyze tissue samples at a fairly high resolution to obtain molecules in situ information on the tissue surface to identify pathological features associated with a disease, resulting in the wide applications in pharmacy, food science, botanical research, and especially clinical research. Herein, novel ambient ionization techniques, such as techniques based on spray and solid‐liquid extraction, techniques based on plasma desorption, techniques based on laser desorption ablation, and techniques based on acoustic desorption were introduced, and the data processing of ambient ionization mass spectrometry imaging was briefly reviewed. Besides, we also highlight recent applications of this imaging technology in clinical researches and discuss the challenges in this imaging technology and the perspectives on the future of the clinical research.     

同位素质谱与无机质谱分析

本文是《分析试验室》定期评述中“无机质谱分析”课题的第二篇评述文章,它增加了同位素质谱分析的内容,故将题目改为现今题目,它综述了1985年～1990年间同位素质谱和无机质谱的发展概况。其中包括同位素示踪、同位素稀释、火花源质谱、二次离子质谱、等离子体质谱等。内容以国内为主,也收集了少量代表学科先进水平的外国文献。     

Recent advances in measurement of Pb isotopes in polar ice and snow at sub-picogram per gram concentrations using thermal ionisation mass spectrometry

Techniques for Pb measurements have reached the stage where Antarctic ice with sub-picogram per gram concentrations can be reliably analysed for isotopic composition. Here, particular attention has been given to measuring the quantity of Pb added during the decontamination and sample storage stages of the sample preparation process because of their impact on accuracy at low concentrations. These stages, including the use of a stainless steel chisel for the decontamination, contributed ∼5.2 pg to the total sample analysed, amounting to a concentration increase of ∼13 fg g⁻¹, which is significantly less than expected. Consequently, the corrections to the isotopic ratios and concentration were also smaller. Other contributions to the blank, such as Pb fallout onto critical working areas in the HEPA-filtered air laboratories, were also relatively small as was the amount of Pb leached from preconditioned perfluoroalkoxy (PFA) beakers during sample processing. The ion source contributed typically 89±19 fg to the blank. Although this was relatively large, its influence depended upon the amount of Pb available for analysis and it had the greatest impact when small volumes of samples with a very low concentration were analysed. A 15 months investigation of the leaching characteristics of Pb from a low-density polyethylene (LDPE) sample storage bottle showed 11 fg cm⁻² per day was released immediately following the initial 2 months cleaning process, but this decreased to immeasurable values after a further 3 months of cleaning.     

A high resolution mass spectrometric measurement system for a vacuum fusion apparatus

A high resolution mass spectrometric read-out system for a vacuum fusion apparatus is described. Rapid analyses are possible and the rate at which various gases are evolved can be monitored. Gas mixture assays are accomplished by scanning the nominal mass 28 peak. Serial measurements of CO⁺, N₂⁺ and C₂H₄⁺ are made. Thus detection and measurement of evolved hydrocarbons are possible. The results for silver and tin from a conventional vacuum fusion apparatus and the mass spectrometer apparatus are compared.     

Recent advances in chemoinformatics

Chemoinformatics is a large scientific discipline that deals with the storage, organization, management, retrieval, analysis, dissemination, visualization, and use of chemical information. Chemoinformatics techniques are used extensively in drug discovery and development. Although many consider it a mature field, the advent of high-throughput experimental techniques and the need to analyze very large data sets have brought new life and challenges to it. Here, we review a selection of papers published in 2006 that caught our attention with regard to the novelty of the methodology that was presented. The field is seeing significant growth, which will be further catalyzed by the widespread availability of public databases to support the development and validation of new approaches.