Analysis of cyclomalto-oligosaccharides (cyclodextrins) and derivatives thereof by ion-spray mass spectrometry

Mass Spectrometry of Esterified Cyclodextrins

Cyclodextrins are cyclic oligosaccharides that have received special attention due to their cavity-based structural architecture that imbues them with outstanding properties, primarily related to their capacity to host various guest molecules, from low-molecular-mass compounds to polymers. Cyclodextrin derivatization has been always accompanied by the development of characterization methods, able to unfold complicated structures with increasing precision. One of the important leaps forward is represented by mass spectrometry techniques with soft ionization, mainly matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) and electrospray ionization (ESI). In this context, esterified cyclodextrins (ECDs) benefited also from the formidable input of structural knowledge, thus allowing the understanding of the structural impact of reaction parameters on the obtained products, especially for the ring-opening oligomerization of cyclic esters. The current review envisages the common mass spectrometry approaches such as direct MALDI MS or ESI MS analysis, hyphenated liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, and tandem mass spectrometry, employed for unraveling the structural features and particular processes associated with ECDs. Thus, the accurate description of complex architectures, advances in the gas phase fragmentation processes, assessment of secondary reactions, and reaction kinetics are discussed in addition to typical molecular mass measurements.

HP-β-CD for the formulation of IgG and Ig-based biotherapeutics

The main challenge to develop HCF for IgG and Ig-based therapeutics is to achieve essential solubility, viscosity and stability of these molecules in order to maintain product quality and meet regulatory requirement during manufacturing, production, storage, shipment and administration processes. The commonly used and FDA approved excipients for IgG and Ig -based therapeutics may no longer fulfil the challenge of HCF development for these molecules to certain extent, especially for some complex Ig-based platforms. 2-Hydroxypropyl beta-cyclodextrin (HP-β-CD) is one of the promising excipients applied recently for HCF development of IgG and Ig-based therapeutics although it has been used for formulation of small synthesized chemical drugs for more than thirty years. This review describes essential aspects about application of HP-β-CD as excipient in pharmaceutical formulation, including physico-chemical properties of HP-β-CD, supply chain, regulatory, patent landscape, marketed drugs with HP-β-CD, analytics and analytical challenges, stability and control strategies, and safety concerns. It also provides an overview of different studies, and outcomes thereof, regarding formulation development for IgGs and Ig-based molecules in liquid and solid (lyophilized) dosage forms with HP-β-CD. The review specifically highlights the challenges for formulation manufacturing of IgG and Ig-based therapeutics with HP-β-CD and identifies areas for future work in pharmaceutical and formulation development.

Gas-Phase Fragmentation of Cyclic Oligosaccharides in Tandem Mass Spectrometry

Modern mass spectrometry, including electrospray and MALDI, is applied for analysis and structure elucidation of carbohydrates. Cyclic oligosaccharides isolated from different sources (bacteria and plants) have been known for decades and some of them (cyclodextrins and their derivatives) are widely used in drug design, as food additives, in the construction of nanomaterials, etc. The peculiarities of the first- and second-order mass spectra of cyclic oligosaccharides (natural, synthetic and their derivatives and modifications: cyclodextrins, cycloglucans, cyclofructans, cyclooligoglucosamines, etc.) are discussed in this minireview.

Probing the common alkali metal affinity of native and variously methylated β-cyclodextrins by combining electrospray-tandem mass spectrometry and molecular modeling

In the study herein, we investigated the solution and gas phase affinity of native and variously methylated β-cyclodextrins (CDs) as hosts towards three common alkali metals as guests namely lithium, sodium and potassium. For this purpose, two complementary approaches have been employed: electrospray-tandem mass spectrometry (ESI-MS/MS) with two energetic regimes: Collision Induced Dissociation (CID) and Higher Collision Dissociation (HCD), respectively, and DFT molecular modeling. These approaches have been achieved by taking into account the interaction of either one or two alkali metals with the host molecules. The results showed a good agreement between experimental and theoretical data. It was demonstrated that increasing the methylation degree strengthened the gas phase affinity towards all studied alkali metals. Furthermore, it was established that the cation selectivity was Na(+) > Li(+) > K(+) and Li(+) > Na(+) > K(+) for the solution and gas phase, respectively.

Characterization of a new methylated beta-cyclodextrin with a low degree of substitution by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry and liquid chromatography using evaporative light scattering detection

A new methylated beta-cyclodextrin with a low degree of substitution was characterized by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS) and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with evaporative light scattering detection. Using alpha-cyano-4-hydroxycinnamic acid as the matrix and the thin layer method as the deposition procedure, MALDI-TOF-MS revealed that the mixture was composed of CDs bearing from 2 to 8 methyl groups with an average degree of substitution (DS) of 0.7 (i.e. 0.7 methyl groups per glucopyranose unit). Using a Purospher Star RP-18 endcapped column with acetonitrile-water mobile phase in gradient elution mode, HPLC was employed at analytical scale to obtain a chromatographic fingerprint of the crude mixture and at semi-preparative scale to fractionate it. MALDI-TOF-MS of these fractions revealed that the overall retention of the different derivatives, which depicts their polarity, was mainly driven by the DS and increased with the number of methyl groups on the CD moiety.

Mass spectrometric decompositions of cationized β-cyclodextrin

The mass spectrometric decompositions of beta-cyclodextrin (beta-CD) complexed with a number of common divalent metal cations (Mg, Ca, Cd, Cu, Co and Pb), obtained under electrospray ionization conditions, are reported. The main fragmentation pathways of [beta-CD+Cat](2+) ions studied (Cat stands for divalent cation) consist of consecutive losses of sugar units. The rupture of C-C bond in sugar units, which occurs via hydrogen atom transfer from the fragment ion formed to the eliminated species, was also observed. Isotope labelling consisting of the exchange of all hydroxyl hydrogens for deuteriums, has been applied in order to understand better the formation of fragment ions. It was found that C-H hydrogen transfer proceeds only during fragmentation across C-C bonds.

Characterization of a new methylated Beta-cyclodextrin with a low degree of substitution by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry and liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry

A new methylated beta-cyclodextrin (Me-beta-CD) with a low degree of substitution (DS) was characterized by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) and liquid chromatography coupled with ESI-MS (LC/ESI-MS). For ESI-MS analyses, the composition of the infused sample solution was optimized in order to obtain only singly charged ammoniated CDs without fragmentation. The DS value (i.e. the number of methyl groups per glucopyranose unit) was found to be 0.7, which was in accordance with the values previously obtained by other methods. The LC/ESI-MS analysis, derived from a method using evaporative light scattering detection, allowed the study of the substitution isomers of each derivative and appears to be an easy and rapid tool for the accurate characterization of Me-beta-CD mixtures.

Chiral supercritical fluid chromatography on porous graphitic carbon using commercial dimethyl beta-cyclodextrins as mobile phase additive

Using dimethylated-beta-cyclodextrin mixtures (MeCD) as chiral selectors in CO2-polar modifier mobile phase and porous graphitic carbon as solid-phase, chiral supercritical (or subcritical) fluid chromatography was performed. The adsorbed quantity of MeCD onto the porous graphitic carbon (Hypercarb) was measured for various chiral selector concentrations using the breakthrough method with evaporative light scattering detector. The effects of MeCD concentration in the mobile phase, the nature of the polar modifier, the outlet pressure, the column temperature and the nature of the commercial MeCD mixture on the retention and the enantioselectivities were studied. For a given solute, the enantioselectivity is greatly dependent on the commercial MeCD mixture used. The retention mechanism was also studied. From the data, we find that the dominant mechanism for the chiral discrimination is the diastereoisomeric complexation in the mobile phase.

Analysis of sulfobutyl ether-beta-cyclodextrin mixtures by ion-spray mass spectrometry and liquid chromatography-ion-spray mass spectrometry

The analysis of two commercial and two home-made sulfobutyl ether beta-cyclodextrin (SBE-beta-CD) samples by ion-spray (IS) mass spectrometry and by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry coupling (LC-MS) is investigated in a negative ion mode. SBE-beta-CD fragmentation was first investigated by direct infusion. In IS, the best conditions for SBE-beta-CD ionization consisted of ammonium acetate added to an acetonitrile/water mixture as sample solvent. These conditions allowed simplification of the mass spectrum, mainly by the formation of dicharged species [M-2H]2-, thus limiting the production of multicharged fragments. IS-MS permits fast and simple measurement of the substitution pattern and determination of the global degree of substitution for SBE-beta-CD mixtures. A complementary method using LC-MS was developed for the analysis of these mixtures. The substitution patterns obtained by LC-MS are in good agreement with those determined by direct MS analysis. The LC-MS coupling enabled separation of the mixtures versus the charge in anion-exchange chromatography (AEC) whereas no separation of the different substitution isomers potentially present in the SBE-beta-CD mixture was displayed. The AEC methodology described can be successfully used for fractionation of SBE-beta-CD derivatives at the semi-preparative scale.

Consequences of variable purity of heptakis(2,3,6-tri-O-methyl)-beta-cyclodextrin determined by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry on the enantioselective separation of polychlorinated compounds

The composition of 10 batches of heptakis(2,3,6-tri-O-methyl)-beta-cyclodextrin (PM-CD) from different suppliers was determined by high-performance liquid chromatography combined with atmospheric pressure chemical ionisation mass spectrometry (MS). Considerable differences were found. Some batches consisted of more than 95% pure PM-CD, whereas others were not completely derivatised or contained a significant amount of by-products. Some suggestions about the structures of these impurities are given though neither nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy nor MS-MS investigations could completely reveal their nature. Capillaries for high-resolution gas chromatography were coated with the batches of most differing composition. They demonstrated widely varying column performance and separation properties for selected chiral polychlorinated substances such as chlordane compounds, o,p'-DDT, o,p'-DDD, alpha-hexachlorocyclohexane and atropisomeric polychlorinated biphenyls. The best enantioselectivity was obtained with the purest PM-CD. Compared to separations reported in the literature, a broader enantioselectivity was observed and also trans-heptachlor epoxide and oxychlordane could be resolved into enantiomers.

Electrospray mass spectrometry and supercritical fluid chromatography of methylated beta-cyclodextrins

Five commercial dimethylated beta-cyclodextrin (DM-beta-CD) samples were analysed by electrospray (or ionspray) mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) and supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) with evaporative light scattering detection. A silica and a nitro-bonded silica were selected using CO2-methanol-acetonitrile-water and CO2-methanol as mobile phase, respectively. An extensive optimisation scheme was performed for mobile phase selection. Both SFC systems were used for analyses of complex DM-beta-CD samples. Peak identifications were made using off-line ESI-MS. Commercial DM-beta-CDs are impure mixtures of homologues and isomers and analysis reveals that every manufacturer produces a different mixture.

Physicochemical characterization of different batches of ethylated beta-cyclodextrins

Different ethylated beta-cyclodextrin (Et-beta-CD) derivatives were obtained by various synthetic routes and their chemical structures and physical properties were elucidated. The aqueous solubility studies were carried out at 25 and 37 degrees C. A gas phase chromatography analysis, with head space extraction, was developed to detect the presence of residual solvents in the dry preparations. Electrospray ionization mass spectrometry allowed the determination of the average degree of substitution and the molecular mass of the Et-beta-CDs. Nuclear magnetic resonance analysis was used to elucidate the relationship between the solubility behavior and substituted positions of ethyl groups on the CD glucopyranose units. Finally, this paper deals with different physico-chemical methods used to fully characterize the different batches of Et-beta-CD to correlate the data obtained with the pharmacotechnical behavior of these cyclodextrins.

Approach to the thermodynamics of enantiomer separation by gas chromatography. Enantioselectivity between the chiral inhalation anesthetics enflurane, isoflurane and desflurane and a diluted gamma-cyclodextrin derivative

The thermodynamics of enantioselectivity, -delta D,L(delta G), -delta D,L(delta H), delta D,L(delta S) and Tiso, have been determined by gas chromatography employing the concept of the retention increment R' for the inhalation anesthetics enflurane (1), isoflurane (2) and desflurane (3) and the selector octakis(3-O-butanoyl-2,6-di-O-n-pentyl)-gamma-cyclodextrin (4) in the polysiloxane SE-54. It is shown that the separation factor alpha is concentration-dependent. Therefore, the separation factor alpha should not be employed as a criterion for enantioselectivity in diluted systems. The -delta DL(delta G) data for 1 and 4 are corroborated by 1H NMR spectroscopic measurements.

Analysis of charged cyclomalto-oligosaccharides (cyclodextrin) derivatives by ion-spray, matrix-assisted laser-desorption/ionization time-of-flight and fast-atom bombardment mass spectrometry, and by capillary electrophoresis

The use of electrospray-ionization mass spectrometry (ESIMS), matrix-assisted laser-desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDITOFMS), and fast-atom bombardment mass spectrometry (FABMS) for the rapid determination of molecular weight, degree of substitution (ds), and purity is demonstrated for charged derivatives of cyclomalto-heptaose (beta CD) and -octaose (gamma CD). The access to anionic sulfoalkyl ethers (alkyl: ethyl, n-propyl, and n-butyl) and to beta CD-2-hydroxy-3-trimethylammoniumpropyl ether chlorides (HTAP-beta CD) leads only to mixtures of products, the compositions of which can be determined directly from ESI and MALDITOF mass spectra. All charged derivatives consist of a mixture of unreacted and higher substituted compounds. The substitution patterns obtained by MS are in good agreement with the results of experiments on the separation of beta CD-sulfoalkyl ethers by capillary electrophoresis (CE).

Dextrin sulfopropyl ether: a novel anionic chiral buffer additive for enantiomer separation by electrokinetic chromatography

Dextrin 10 sulfopropyl ether (DSPE) was prepared and characterized by matrix-assisted laser-desorption ionization-mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS) using a recently developed matrix. The anionic compound was used as a novel chiral buffer additive for enantiomer separation by capillary electrophoresis, thereby changing into the elektrokinetic chromatography (EKC) mode. DSPE was systematically evaluated as a chiral selector and was compared to the respective nonderivatized maltodextrin. DSPE showed an increased separation power for cationic racemic solutes. Although not quite as versatile and powerful as cyclodextrins, the inexpensive dextrin 10 and its derivative DSPE showed remarkable enantioselectivity in some cases.