Mass spectrometric analysis of selected radiolyzed amino acids in an astrochemical context

A selection of amino acids, namely arginine, proline and tyrosine previously irradiated to 3.2 mega-Gray in the solid state and analyzed by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and optical rotatory dispersion (ORD) were analyzed in the present work by mass spectrometry with the purpose to identify the radiolysis products and validate the results obtained previously with DSC and ORD. The radiolysis of amino acids is a top-down approach of a research program designed to assess the radiolysis resistance of these molecules for 4.6 × 10⁹ years once buried in primitive bodies of the Solar System.     

Mass spectrometric identification of oleanolic and ursolic acids

p-Toluidides of 3-acetoxy ursolic and 3-acetoxy oleanolic acids were prepared. On the basis of different intensities of the m/e 452 and 453 peaks the identification of oleanolic and ursolic acids is possible.     

Mass spectrometric analysis for carboxylic acids as viable markers of petroleum hydrocarbon biodegradation

The characterization of metabolites, which are considered markers of bacterial degradation of hydrocarbons, is gaining in importance. Over the years, carboxylic acids have served as useful indicators of aerobic and anaerobic hydrocarbon biodegradation. This interest has been accompanied by the extensive and robust development of analytical methods for monitoring, untargeted identification, and specific and sensitive determination of carboxylic acids in complex matrices. This review discusses critically the state-of-the-art of mass spectrometry as a reliable analytical technique to identify and quantify carboxylic acid metabolites. Attention is paid to sample pre-treatment, selective group pre-concentration, and gas and liquid chromatography preceding mass spectrometry to alleviate matrix effects and ionization discrimination. Recent specific applications of mass spectrometry in monitoring carboxylic acids for assessing hydrocarbon biodegradation are reviewed. Presently, no single technique is sufficient for holistic profiling of carboxylic acids. The direct characterization of carboxylic acids by mass spectrometry is the ultimate goal but despite recent significant developments, challenges persist.     

Mass spectrometric analysis of hydroxyproline glycans

Mass spectrometric techniques are presented which allow one to analyze the sugar part bound to hydroxyproline in hydroxyproline-rich glycoproteins. The hydroxyproline (Hyp) glycans obtained by alkaline hydrolysis give abundant [M + Na](+) ions by electrospray ionization which after collision-induced dissociation (CID) yield inter alia [Hyp - H + Na](+). In mixtures a parent ion scan of this species will indicate the various molecular species which can then be analyzed by MS(n) after CID in an ion trap, where successive losses of the sugar units are observed. Methylation techniques allow one to distinguish between linear and branched isomeric structures.     

Mass spectrometric analysis of halogenated polymers

Controlled pyrolysis—electron impact mass spectrometry is a general method for the identification of polymers. It is shown here to be useful for the diagnosis of commercial halogen-containing polymers. The application of the technique both in a purely fingerprinting role, and by rationalising spectra in terms of structure and generalised thermal degradation pathways, is demonstrated. Inorganic oxides can have a secondary effect on degradative behaviour and spectral form.     

Mass spectrometric analysis of porcine rhodopsin

Rhodopsin is the dim light photosensitive pigment of animals. In this work, we undertook to study the structure of rhodopsin from swine and compare it with bovine and rat rhodopsin. Porcine rhodopsin was analyzed using methodology developed previously for mass spectrometric analysis of integral membrane proteins. Combining efficient protein cleavage and high performance liquid chromatography separation with the sensitivity of mass spectrometry (MS), this technique allows the observation of the full protein map and the posttranslational modifications of the protein in a single experiment. The rhodopsin protein from a single porcine eye was sequenced completely, with the exception of two single-amino acid fragments and one two-amino acid fragment, and the gene sequence reported previously was confirmed. The posttranslational modifications, similar to the ones reported previously for bovine and rat rhodopsin, were also identified. Although porcine rhodopsin has a high degree of homology to bovine and rat rhodopsins and most of their posttranslational modifications are identical, the glycosylation and phosphorylation patterns observed were different. These results show that rhodopsin from a single porcine eye can be characterized completely by MS. This technology opens the possibility of rhodopsin structural and functional studies aided by powerful mass spectrometric analysis, using the fellow eye as an internal control.     

Mass spectrometric analysis of protein phosphorylation

Phosphorylation is one of the most common posttranslational modifications of proteins in eukaryotic cells; it plays an important role in a wide spectrum of biological processes. This makes its study an important task for understanding cell functioning mechanisms. The aim of phosphoproteomics is a global mass spectral analysis of the phosphoprotein composition of cells, i.e., phosphoproteome. Nowadays, new effective methods are actively developed, which succeed not only in the detection of phosphorylated proteins but also in the determination of phosphorylated amino acid residues (phosphorylation sites) and in the quantitative comparison of phosphorylation among several specimens. Despite the analysis of protein phosphorylation remains a complicated problem, the available methods nowadays allow the detection of thousands of phosphorylation sites in the very same experiment. The present review covers the main methods utilized in contemporary phosphoproteomics: phosphoprotein and phosphopeptides enrichment as well as the mass spectrometric analysis of protein phosphorylation.     

Mass spectrometric study of some 4-pyrimidine carboxylic acids

Mass spectrometry has been applied in order to study the main fragmentation routes of some 4-pyrimidene carboxylic acids. Differences in fragmentation were caused by the nature of the substituent in position 2 of the pyrimidine ring, while the methyl group in position 1, 3 or 6 did not influence the fragmentation route.     

Mass spectrometric analysis of high-purity carbon dioxide

A high-vacuum, low-temperature, continuous separation technique has been used in conjunction with a mass spectrometer for the analysis of carbon dioxide containing vpm amounts of H(2), He, CH(4), Ne, N(2), CO, O(2) and Ar. The method relies on the condensation of carbon dioxide on the walls of a glass U-tube, cooled in liquid nitrogen, connected between an inlet and the ion source. A high-pressure carbon dioxide sample thus enters the inlet leak but only the impurities pass through the U-tube and reach the ion source, resulting in considerable gain in sensitivity and elimination of interference from carbon dioxide. The sensitivity of the method is several orders of magnitude better than the normal mass spectrometric method.     

Mass spectrometric analysis of carbohydrates labeled with a biotinylated tag

A derivatization method for mass spectrometric analysis of oligosaccharides is presented. Small saccharides, complex, high‐mannose‐type oligosaccharides and oligosaccharides released from hen ovalbumin were converted into their biotin derivatives by incubating them with biotinamidocaproyl hydrazide (BACH). Improved sensitivity of mass spectrometric analysis of labeled glycans in comparison with their natural counterparts was achieved after derivatization. The labeling reagent contains a biotin handle at one end and a hydrazide group at the other. Hence, the key feature of biotinylated sugars is that in addition to their usefulness in functional studies (e.g. analysis of the interaction between lectins and biotin‐derivatized oligosaccharides) they might be utilized also for structural analysis of oligosaccharides. Mass spectrometric studies were performed by matrix‐assisted laser desorption/ionization time‐of‐flight and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Mass spectrometric analysis of ceramics after decomposition with elemental fluorine

The features of a combustion with elementary fluorine for the case of compact SiC ceramics and model substances for boron containing ceramics (H₃BO₃ and Na₂B₄O₇) were investigated with the aim of their decomposition and analysis. On-line detection of the gaseous decomposition products by quadrupole mass spectrometry using electron impact ionisation was studied. Limitations by blanks and transport interferences were investigated. Standard addition as well as the isotope dilution technique were used for calibration in the case of B, C and W at the trace and major component level.Dedicated to Professor Dr. rer. nat. Dr. h.c. Hubertus Nickel on the occasion of his 65th birthdayDeceased May 1995.     

Mass spectrometric analysis of mixtures without separation

Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 6, p. 1450, June, 1989.     

Mass spectrometric methodology for the analysis of highly oxidized diterpenoid acids in Old Master paintings

Diterpenoid resins from larch and pine trees and the corresponding fractions in a >100-year-old wax-resin adhesive and varnish and a 200-year-old resin/oil paint sample were analysed with by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) using several off-line and on-line derivatization methods. The main resin compounds were highly oxidized abietic acids. Important products found are hydroxydehydroabietic acids (OH-DHAs), 7-oxoDHA, di-OH-DHAs and 15-OH-7-oxoDHA. The last two compounds have not been reported to occur in artworks before. Larixyl acetate, an important marker from larch resins, was found to be still present in high amounts in the adhesive. A large number of mass spectra of the different oxidation products and larixol and larixyl acetate are presented and their fragmentation behaviour under electron impact conditions is discussed. An index for the degree of oxidation (IDOX) of the abietic acids is presented as an indicator of the degree of oxidation of the matrix in which the resin is present. The IDOX was 0.10, 0.67, 0.81 and 0.76 for the fresh resins, the dark-aged adhesive, the aged varnish and the resin/oil paint, respectively (measured with pyrolysis (Py)-tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH)-GC/MS). Py-TMAH-GC/MS and direct temperature-resolved mass spectrometry are reliable, valuable and fast techniques for the assessment of the presence and degree of oxidation of diterpenoid resins. Copyright 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Mass spectrometric analysis of carbon monoxide-nitrogen mixtures

A method for the analysis of gas mixtures containing both carbon monoxide and nitrogen, by using a single-focussing mass spectrometer, is described. It involves measurement of the mass spectrum of a gas sample before and after conversion of the carbon monoxide present into carbon dioxide by means of the Schütze catalyst.     

Mass spectrometry of natural products: VIII—Mass spectrometric studies of ring a saturated gibberellins

The fragmentation behaviour of gibberellin A₁ methyl ester and gibberellin C methyl ester has been studied by means of positive and negative ion mass spectrometry, high resolution techniques and metastable ion transitions. The results obtained allow a mass spectrometric distinction to be made between both structural types.     

Thermospray-mass spectrometric analysis of underivatized monohydroxy fatty acids: application to stimulated platelets

Monohydroxylated fatty acids prepared from polyunsaturated fatty acids of nutritional value were analysed by thermospray-mass spectrometry without prior chemical derivatization. Positive and negative ionization modes were compared. The highest sensitivity was observed with the negative ionization mode with detection limits of 10 pmol based on the 12-hydroxy derivative of eicosatrienoic acid (12-OH-8,10,14-20:3). This is comparable to that obtained by high-performance liquid chromatography with UV detection at 234 nm. Selected ion monitoring based on the fragment [M-H]- allowed a variety of standard monohydroxy fatty acids to be detected. This approach makes possible the analysis of various derivatives generated by thrombin-stimulated platelets (10(9) cells) pre-enriched with minor polyunsaturated fatty acids, even when these derivatives co-elute from the column (e.g., 12-HETE and 14-OH-22:6).