Capillary electrophoresis/mass spectrometry relevant to pharmaceutical and biotechnological applications

Advanced analytical techniques play a crucial role in the pharmaceutical and biotechnological field. In this context, capillary electrophoresis/mass spectrometry (CE/MS) has attracted attention due to efficient and selective separation in combination with powerful detection allowing identification and detailed characterization. Method developments and applications of CE/MS have been focused on questions not easily accessible by liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) as the analysis of intact proteins, carbohydrates, and various small molecules, including peptides. Here, recent approaches and applications of CE/MS relevant to (bio)pharmaceuticals are reviewed and discussed to show actual developments and future prospects. Based on other reviews on related subjects covering large parts of previous works, the paper is focused on general ideas and contributions of the last 2 years; for the analysis of glycans, the period is extended back to 2006.     

Characterization of hydrothermally isolated xylan from beech wood by capillary electrophoresis with laser-induced fluorescence and mass spectrometry detection

Hemicelluloses such as xylans play an increasing role as renewable raw materials for technological applications. The complex and variable composition of hemicelluloses requires powerful analytical techniques in order to assess their composition. In the present study, the neutral fraction of hydrothermally isolated xylan from beech wood was characterized by capillary electrophoresis with laser-induced fluorescence detection (CE-LIF) upon derivatization with 8-aminopyrene-1,3,6-trisulfonic acid. Reproducible separation of the xylo-oligosaccharides was achieved using a polyvinyl alcohol coated capillary and a 25 mM sodium acetate buffer, pH 4.75, as background electrolyte at an applied voltage of ?30 kV. Intermediate precision expressed as relative standard deviation was below 2.0 % for migration times and below 10 % for relative peak areas except for the oligomers present at very low concentrations only. At the same time, derivatization conditions proved to be robust as well. Samples obtained by fractionation of the xylan were subsequently characterized by CE-LIF. In addition, capillary electrophoresis with mass spectrometry detection indicated the presence of small amounts of xylo-oligosaccharides containing additional sugar moieties such as 4-O-methylglucuronic acid. Moreover, minor components containing acetyl groups could be detected. The presence of these impurities was confirmed by nuclear magnetic resonance analysis of the fractions. In conclusion, although none of the techniques applied here gave a complete picture of the composition of the investigated xylan or its fractions, the combination provided insight into the complexity of the sample.     

CE-MS Identification of Amino Acid Sequence Inversion as a New Degradation Pathway of an Aspartyl Model Tripeptide

CE-MS was employed to identify two unknown degradation products of the model tripeptide Phe-α-Asp-Gly heated at 80 °C in aqueous solution at pH 7.4. Both compounds displayed essentially identical mass spectra indicating the presence of peptide diastereomers. The [M + H]⁺-ion at m/z 338 suggested a tripeptide composed of the amino acids Phe, Gly and Asp. The fragmentation pattern indicated that Phe was not located at the N-terminus. Subsequently, the linear peptide α-Asp-Phe-Gly and the branched peptide Asp(Gly)-Phe were synthesized and analyzed by CE-MS. The mass spectrum of synthetic α-Asp-Phe-Gly was identical to that of the unknown compounds confirming the structure of the degradation products. Asp(Gly)-Phe displayed a complex fragmentation pattern. In conclusion, amino acid sequence inversion represents another degradation pathway of Phe-α-Asp-Gly at pH 7.4 besides known reactions including isomerization, enantiomerization, cyclization to diketopiperazine derivatives and backbone hydrolysis. The mechanism of the rearrangement of the amino acid sequence is proposed to proceed via an aza-bridged intermediate.

     

Analysis of native and APTS-labeled N-glycans by capillary electrophoresis/time-of-flight mass spectrometry

The glycosylation of proteins is of particular interest in biopharmaceutical applications. The detailed characterization of glycosylation based on the released carbohydrates is mandatory since the protein stability, folding, and efficacy are strongly dependent on the structural diversity inherent in the glycan moieties of a glycoprotein. For glycan pattern analysis, capillary electrophoresis with laser-induced fluorescence using 8-aminopyrene-1,3,6-trisulfonic acid (APTS)-labeled glycans is used frequently. In this paper, a robust capillary electrophoresis–mass spectroscopy method both for the analysis of APTS-labeled glycans and unlabeled charged glycans is presented. The background electrolyte consists of 0.7 M ammonia and 0.1 M ε-aminocaproic acid in water/methanol 30:70 (v/v). High separation efficiency including separation of structural isomers was obtained. The method was validated in terms of reproducibility and linearity. Submicromolar sensitivity is achieved with linearity up to 24 μM. The ability to analyze APTS-labeled, as well as unlabeled, charged glycans enables the determination of labeling and ionization efficiency: APTS-labeled glycans show a factor of three better ionization efficiency compared to non-labeled native glycans. The presented method is applied to the analysis of pharmaceutical products. Furthermore, the system can be applied to the analysis of 2-ANSA-labeled glycans, though separation efficiency is limited.