Positional and geometrical anionic isomer separations by capillary electrophoresis-electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry

Open Tubular Column Immobilized with Covalent Organic Frameworks for Rapid Separation of Small Molecular Compounds by Capillary Electrochromatography

Preparation of a novel TpBD (synthesized from phloroglucinol and benzidine) covalent organic framework (COF) immobilized open-tubular (OT) capillary is described by in situ growth strategy. The stationary phase in the column was characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra, X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), nitrogen adsorption–desorption isotherms, scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectrum (EDS). Several families of compounds with different properties (alkylbenzenes, parabens, sulfonamides and benzoic acids) were selected to evaluate the performance of the TpBD COF immobilized capillary. The results showed that the stationary phase was uniform with about 6.0 μm thickness under the optimal preparation conditions, and the relative standard deviations (RSDs) were no more than 3.13% of alkylbenzenes on the TpBD COF immobilized capillary for 11 consecutive runs, which exhibited its excellent reproducibility and stability. A rapid baseline separation of each family of the analytes (neutral parabens, amphoteric sulfonamides and acidic benzoic acids) was obtained in less than 6 min with a resolution (Rs) of 2.79~9.30, which sufficiently verified the rapid separation, high resolution and wide application range of the TpBD COF immobilized capillary, and further revealed this strategy of fabricating COF to capillary column to show great promise in capillary electrochromatography.

Multiblock metabolomics: An approach to elucidate whole-body metabolism with multiblock principal component analysis

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“Multiblock metabolomics” elucidates the global metabolic network in a whole body.

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“Multiblock metabolomics” combines LC/MS-based metabolomics with multiblock PCA.

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“Multiblock metabolomics” highlights and elicits organ-specific metabolism.

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TGs with less unsaturated fatty acids were highly accumulated in the diabetic liver.

Principal component analysis (PCA) is a useful tool for omics analysis to identify underlying factors and visualize relationships between biomarkers. However, this approach is limited in addressing life complexity and further improvement is required. This study aimed to develop a new approach that combines mass spectrometry-based metabolomics with multiblock PCA to elucidate the whole-body global metabolic network, thereby generating comparable metabolite maps to clarify the metabolic relationships among several organs. To evaluate the newly developed method, Zucker diabetic fatty (ZDF) rats (n = 6) were used as type 2 diabetic models and Sprague Dawley (SD) rats (n = 6) as controls. Metabolites in the heart, kidney, and liver were analyzed by capillary electrophoresis and liquid chromatography mass spectrometry, respectively, and the detected metabolites were analyzed by multiblock PCA. More than 300 metabolites were detected in the heart, kidney, and liver. When the metabolites obtained from the three organs were analyzed with multiblock PCA, the score and loading maps obtained were highly synchronized and their metabolism patterns were visually comparable. A significant finding in this study was the different expression patterns in lipid metabolism among the three organs; notably triacylglycerols with polyunsaturated fatty acids or less unsaturated fatty acids showed specific accumulation patterns depending on the organs.

Inter-Laboratory Comparison of Metabolite Measurements for Metabolomics Data Integration

BACKGROUND

One of the current problems in the field of metabolomics is the difficulty in integrating data collected using different equipment at different facilities, because many metabolomic methods have been developed independently and are unique to each laboratory.

METHODS

In this study, we examined whether different analytical methods among 12 different laboratories provided comparable relative quantification data for certain metabolites. Identical samples extracted from two cell lines (HT-29 and AsPc-1) were distributed to each facility, and hydrophilic and hydrophobic metabolite analyses were performed using the daily routine protocols of each laboratory.

RESULTS

The results indicate that there was no difference in the relative quantitative data (HT-29/AsPc-1) for about half of the measured metabolites among the laboratories and assay methods. Data review also revealed that errors in relative quantification were derived from issues such as erroneous peak identification, insufficient peak separation, a difference in detection sensitivity, derivatization reactions, and extraction solvent interference.

CONCLUSION

The results indicated that relative quantification data obtained at different facilities and at different times would be integrated and compared by using a reference materials shared for data normalization.

Selective Detection of Sugar Phosphates by Capillary Electrophoresis/Mass Spectrometry and Its Application to an EngineeredE. coli Host

A highly selective method employing capillary electrophoresis and electrospray mass spectrometry (CE-ESMS) with precursor ion scanning for fragment ions characteristic of phosphate-linked sugars was developed for the determination of "unnatural" sugar phosphates generated in vivo, as part of a natural product glycorandomization study. Cell lysates from an engineered E. coli host were probed for "natural" and "unnatural" sugar phosphates resulting from in vivo galactokinase (GalK) bioconversions, and tandem mass spectrometry experiments were performed to confirm the identities of the sugar phosphates. Among the 22 cell lysates that were studied, 13 were found to contain the expected natural and "unnatural" sugar phosphates. This was in agreement with the GalK in vitro conversion yields, in which an in vitro yield of <or=15 % coincided with a lack of observable in vivo bioconversion. In addition, the CE-ESMS and precursor ion scanning method was capable of separating sugar phosphate regioisomers such as hexose-6-phosphate and hexose-1-phosphate.

Chromatographic selectivity study of 4-fluorophenylacetic acid positional isomers separation

Unique properties of the fluorine atom stimulate widespread use and development of new organofluorine compounds in agrochemistry, biotechnology and pharmacology applications. However, relatively few synthetic methods exhibit a high degree of fluorination selectivity, which ultimately results in the presence of structurally related fluorinated isomers in the synthetic product. This outcome is undesirable from a pharmaceutical perspective as positional isomers possess different reactivity, biological activity and toxicity as compared to the desired product. It is advantageous to control positional isomers in the early stages of the synthetic process, as rejection and analysis of these isomers will likely become more difficult in later stages. The current work reports the development of a chromatographic analysis of 2- and 3-fluorophenylacetic acid positional isomer impurities in 4-fluorophenylacetic acid (4-FPAA), a building block in the synthesis of an active pharmaceutical ingredient. The method is employed as a part of a Quality by Design Approach to control purity of the starting material in order to eliminate the presence of undesirable positional isomers in the final drug substance. During method development, a wide range of chromatographic conditions and structurally related positional isomer probe molecules were exploited in an effort to gain insight into the specifics of the separation mechanism. For the systems studied it was shown that the choice of organic modifier played a key role in achieving acceptable separation. Further studies encompassed investigation of temperature influence on retention and selectivity of the FPAA isomers separation. Thermodynamic analysis of these data showed that the selectivity of the 2- and 4- fluorophenylacetic acids separation was dominated by an enthalpic process, while the selectivity of the 4- and 3-fluorophenylacetic acids separation was exclusively entropy driven (Delta(DeltaH degrees approximately 0). Studies of chromatographic behavior were complemented by solid state NMR experiments which provided valuable information regarding the relationship between stationary phase solvation and selectivity.

Isomeric identification by laser control mass spectrometry

The influence shaped femtosecond laser pulses have on molecular photofragmentation and ionization, coupled with the intrinsic sensitivity of mass spectrometry, results in a powerful tool for fast, accurate, reproducible and quantitative isomeric identification. Complex phase functions are introduced to enhance differences during the laser-molecule interactions, which depend on geometric structure, resulting in different fragmentation fingerprints. A full account is given on the setup and results leading to a technique that can be used to distinguish between compounds normally indistinguishable by conventional electron ionization mass spectrometry. We demonstrate geometric and structural isomer identification of cis-/trans-3-heptene, cis-/trans-4-methyl-2-pentene, o-/p-cresol and o-/p-xylene. For the positional isomers of xylene we present a complete dataset consisting of 1024 different phases to explore phase complexity. A selection of two phases from that data can then be used to achieve quantitative identification in mixtures of xylene isomers. Finally, we evaluate receiver operational curves obtained from our experimental data to demonstrate the reliability that can be achieved by femtosecond laser control mass spectrometry.

Recent advances in capillary electrophoresis and capillary electrochromatography of pollutants

Recent advances in the CE and CEC separation, detection, and sample preparation methodologies applied to the determination of a variety of compounds having current or potential environmental relevance have been overviewed. The reviewed literature has illustrated the wide range of CE applications, indicating the continuing interest in CE and CEC in the environmental field.

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.