A review of direct liquid introduction interfacing for LC/MS Part I: Instrumental aspects

The history of electron ionization in LC-MS, from the early days to modern technologies: A review

This review article traces the history of the use of liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (LC-MS) using electron ionization (EI) from the first attempts up to the present day. At the time of the first efforts to couple LC to MS, 70 eV EI was the most common ionization technique, typically used in gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and providing highly reproducible mass spectra that could be collated in libraries. Therefore, it was obvious to transport this dominant approach to the early LC-MS coupling attempts. The use of LC coupled to EI-MS is challenging mainly due to restrictions related to high-vacuum and high-temperature conditions required for the operation of EI and the need to remove the eluent carrying the analyte before entering the ion source. The authors will take readers through a journey of about 50 years, showing how through the succession of different attempts it has been possible to successfully couple LC with EI-MS, which in principle appear to be incompatible.

A Mass Spectrometer in Every Fume Hood

Since their inception, mass spectrometers have played a pivotal role in the direction and application of synthetic chemical research. The ability to develop new instrumentation to solve current analytical challenges in this area has always been at the heart of mass spectrometry, although progress has been slow at times. Herein, we briefly review the history of how mass spectrometry has been used to approach challenges in organic chemistry, how new developments in portable instrumentation and ambient ionization have been used to open novel areas of research, and how current techniques have the ability to expand on our knowledge of synthetic mechanisms and kinetics. Lastly, we discuss the relative paucity of work done in recent years to embrace the concept of improving benchtop synthetic chemistry with mass spectrometry, the disconnect between applications and fundamentals within these studies, and what hurdles still need to be overcome. Graphical Abstract.

Enhancement of the capabilities of liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry with derivatization: general principles and applications

The integration of liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) with derivatization is a relatively new and unique strategy that could add value and could enhance the capabilities of LC-MS-based technologies. The derivatization process could be carried out in various analytical steps, for example, sampling, storage, sample preparation, HPLC separation, and MS detection. This review presents an overview of derivatization-based LC-MS strategy over the past 10 years and covers both the general principles and applications in the fields of pharmaceutical and biomedical analysis, biomarker and metabolomic research, environmental analysis, and food-safety evaluation. The underlying mechanisms and theories for derivative reagent selection are summarized and highlighted to guide future studies.

Nano-liquid chromatography-direct electron ionization mass spectrometry: improving performance by a new ion source adapter

A novel interface adapter has been designed to provide a new way of directly coupling a nano-liquid chromatograph to an electron ionization mass spectrometer. It connects the transfer capillary coming from the liquid chromatograph to the ionization chamber and can be easily screwed into the ion source. Liquid coming from the column passes through the heated adapter flow path and is vaporized. A continuous flow of new liquid pushes the vapor into the ionization chamber where it is ionized and continues on to the mass analyzer. The advantages of the new adapter are reduced ice formation inside the ion source and less clogging of the transfer capillary. Improvements achieved are demonstrated on the basis of caffeine and steroid analysis. The limits of detection of selected steroids are compared with and without the adapter. The adapter improves the detection limit of the system by a factor of 2 and precision from ≤15% to ≤9% relative standard deviation. No derivatization procedure is necessary before the analysis of small polar compounds. The resulting spectra are reproducible, easily interpretable, and database searchable. The new method is robust, delivers reproducible results, and provides a highly efficient alternative to existing methods in the field of pharmaceutical analysis.

The application of fast gradient capillary liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry to the analysis of pharmaceuticals in biofluids

Fast gradient capillary high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled to a mass spectrometer has been successfully used for the analysis of pharmaceutical compounds from biological matrices, in the femtogram on column range. In the work reported in this paper, the use of capillary HPLC, on the 180-micron internal diameter scale, has shown a 30-fold improvement in detection limits when compared to conventional 2-mm scale chromatography. The use of fast gradient elution resulted in a generic methodology which gave excellent chromatographic reproducibility and column longevity. This technique has been used in conjunction with simple protein precipitation, with no deleterious effect on either the column life or the chromatographic performance. The use of capillary HPLC in bioanalysis has the potential to give a significant increase in assay sensitivity with the equipment currently in use. In this paper the authors also present a modification to the current PE-Sciex ion-spray source which allows excellent spray adjustment in three dimensional accessibility, which is important when working with low flow rates, as well as reducing the inherent system dead volume.

Continuous flow fast atom bombardment with packed microcolumns: A comparison of precolumn versus coaxial matrix delivery

The effect of adding glycerol to the mobile phase on the chromatographic separation of peptides has been investigated using a continuous flow fast atom bombardment (CFFAB) interface coupled with commercial packed microcolumns (25 cm × 320 μm.i.d.). In a comparative study using a UV detector, it was found that chromatographic peak broadening progressively increased with increasing percentage of glycerol in the mobile phase. In the liquid chromatographic FAB mass spectrometric analysis, this effect is compounded by the dynamic mixing of the column effluent on the probe. Improvements of 25-155% in the overall separation efficiencies were obtained by introducing the matrix independently to the probe tip via a coaxial arrangement. Application of this coaxial CFFAB is demonstrated by the analysis of peptide mixtures and tryptic digests.

Liquid chromatographic-mass spectrometric studies on rifamycin antibiotics

The use of a direct liquid introduction type liquid chromatographic-mass spectrometric interface to study highly thermally labile rifamycin antibiotics is described. Using negative ionization, abundant molecular ions were observed, and the spectra, also contained structurally significant fragments. Variation of the high-performance liquid chromatographic parameters did not change the spectra, thus making it easy to change chromatographic conditions. In quantitative studies, a surprising correlation was found, indicating that the mass spectrometric signal was proportional to the square of the sample concentration.

Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry coupling and its application in pharmaceutical research

The advantages and technical problems related to the on-line connection of liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry are described, with special emphasis on applications in pharmaceutical chemistry. The most important characteristics of various interfaces, such as direct liquid introduction, Magic, continuous flow fast atom bombardment and thermospray, are discussed. Special applications to the study of thermally very labile compounds are considered.

Comparison between positive, negative and chloride-enhanced negative chemical ionization of organophosphorus pesticides in on-line liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry

Positive and negative chemical ionization (PCI and NCI, respectively) have been used for the characterization of ten organophosphorus pesticides in on-line liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS). LC analyses were performed on a 20 cm X 0.7 mm I.D. C8-bonded phase using acetonitrile-water (70:30) or acetonitrile-water-chloroacetonitrile (69:30:1) as eluent. With PCI, molecular weight information was obtained with both eluents. For NCI considerable differences in the spectra were found using the two eluents. Without chloroacetonitrile the spectra were dominated by the functional group fragment and with chloroacetonitrile the base peak was [M - R]- with R being methyl or ethyl, while the spectra further contained the functional group ions. Special emphasis was devoted to the occurrence of chloride attachment at different source temperatures. With several compounds the [M + Cl]- ion was formed and its relative intensity strongly increased when the source temperature decreased. With NCI the sensitivity was about one order of magnitude better than with PCI. This advantage was partly lost when 1% of chloroacetonitrile was used in the eluent; on the other hand, complementary structural information was obtained. As an application, the determination of three organophosphorus pesticides in sediment is reported.