Amino acid quantitation in aqueous matrices via trap and release membrane introduction mass spectrometry: homocysteine in human plasma

Trap and release membrane introduction mass spectrometry (T&R-MIMS) using a removable direct insertion membrane probe (DIMP) is employed to determine the total homocysteine concentration (tHcy) directly from human plasma after derivatization with ethyl chloroformate. The method uses no chromatographic separation, is linear, reproducible, and displays limit of quantitation (2 pM) sufficiently below the threshold concentration of tHcy in plasma. It also combines chemical, membrane, and mass spectrometric discrimination, and can be used to determine selected amino acids in human plasma simultaneously. After derivatization with ethyl chloroformate, many amino acids in aqueous solution are observed to be efficiently detected; hence T&R-MIMS is promising as a simple and sensitive technique for simultaneous quantitation of selected amino acids in plasma and urine, and in other aqueous matrices.