Signal Enhancement for Peptide Analysis in Liquid Chromatography–Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry with Trifluoroacetic Acid Containing Mobile Phase by Postcolumn Electrophoretic Mobility Control

Microfluidic ion stripper for removal of trifluoroacetic acid from mobile phases used in HILIC-MS of intact proteins

Trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) is commonly used as mobile phase additive to improve retention and peak shape characteristics in hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC) of intact proteins. However, when using electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) detection, TFA may cause ionization suppression and adduct formation, leading to reduced analyte sensitivity. To address this, we describe a membrane-based microfluidic chip with multiple parallel channels for the selective post-column removal of TFA anions from HILIC. An anion-exchange membrane was used to physically separate the column effluent from a stripper flow solution comprising acetonitrile, formic acid, and propionic acid. The exchange of ions allowed the post-column removal of TFA used during HILIC separation of model proteins. The multichannel design of the device allows the use of flow rates of 0.2 mL/min without the need for a flow splitter, using mobile phases containing 0.1% TFA (13 mM). Separation selectivity and efficiency were maintained (with minor band broadening effects) while increasing the signal intensity and peak areas by improving ionization and reducing TFA adduct formation.

Enhancing Sensitivity of Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry of Peptides and Proteins Using Supercharging Agents

Trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) is often used as a mobile phase modifier to enhance reversed phase chromatographic performance. TFA adjusts solution pH and is an ion-pairing agent, but it is not typically suitable for electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) and liquid chromatography/MS (LC/MS) because of its significant signal suppression. Supercharging agents elevate peptide and protein charge states in ESI, increasing tandem MS (MS/MS) efficiency. Here, LC/MS protein supercharging was effected by adding agents to LC mobile phase solvents. Significantly, the ionization suppression generally observed with TFA was, for the most part, rescued by supercharging agents, with improved separation efficiency (higher number of theoretical plates) and lowered detection limits.

Enhancing the performance of LC-MS for intact protein analysis by counteracting the signal suppression effects of trifluoroacetic acid during electrospray

We develop an acidic vapor assisted electrospray ionization strategy within an enclosed electrospray ionization source to counteract the ion suppression effects caused by trifluoroacetic acid.

Signal and Charge Enhancement for Protein Analysis by Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry with Desorption Electrospray Ionization

We recently reported the use of desorption electrospray ionization (DESI) as a novel interface to couple high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with mass spectrometry (MS) (Chem. Commun. 2011, 47, 4171). One of the benefits of such an interface is that post-column derivatization of separated analytes can be integrated with ionization via a "reactive" DESI approach in which a derivatizing reagent is doped into the spray solvent. The reactive DESI interface allows analyte desorption/ionization from the end of the chromatographic column with prompt MS detection; a short time delay of ~20 ms was demonstrated. In this study, we extended this application by "supercharging" proteins following HPLC separation using a DESI spray solvent containing supercharging reagents, m-nitrobenzyl alcohol (m-NBA) or sulfolane. Proteins (insulin, ubiquitin, lysozyme and α-lactalbumin) eluted out of the LC column can be supercharged with the protein charge state distributions (CSDs) significantly increased (to higher charge), which would be advantageous for subsequent top-down MS analysis of proteins. Interestingly, supercharging combined with reactive DESI enhances tolerance towards trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), which is known to be a superior additive in the mobile phase for premium peptide/protein chromatographic separation but has severe signal suppression effects for conventional electrospray ionization (ESI). In comparison to electrosonic spray ionization (ESSI), a variant form of ESI, the sensitivity of protein analysis using LC/DESI-MS with the mobile phase containing TFA can be improved by up to 70-fold for lysozyme and α-lactalbumin by including m-NBA in the DESI spray solvent. Presumably, by reducing TFA dissociation in the droplet, supercharging agents lower trifluoroacetate anion concentrations and concomitantly reduce ion pairing to analyte cationic sites. The reduced ion pairing therefore decreases the TFA signal suppression effect. The supercharging capability and the reduction of TFA signal suppression suggest that LC/DESI-MS is a valuable method for protein analysis.

Membrane-based continuous remover of trifluoroacetic acid in mobile phase for LC-ESI-MS analysis of small molecules and proteins

We developed a "continuous" trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) remover based on electrodialysis with bipolar membrane for online coupling of liquid chromatography (LC) and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) using TFA containing mobile phase. With the TFA remover as an interface, the TFA anion in the mobile phase was removed based on electrodialysis mechanism, and meanwhile, the anion exchange membrane was self-regenerated by the hydroxide ions produced by the bipolar membrane. So the remover could continuously work without any additional regeneration process. The established LC-TFA remover-MS system has been successfully applied for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of small molecules as well as proteins.