Introducing Nafion for In Situ Desalting and Biofluid Profiling in Spray Mass Spectrometry

Emergency diagnosis made easy: matrix removal and analyte enrichment from raw saliva using paper-arrow mass spectrometry

Paracetamol overdose is a leading cause of acute liver failure that can prove fatal. Establishing paracetamol concentration accurately and quickly is critical. Current detection methods are invasive, time-consuming and/or expensive. Non-invasive, rapid and cost-effective techniques are urgently required. To address this challenge, a novel approach, called Paper-Arrow Mass Spectrometry (PA-MS) has been developed. This technique combines sample collection, extraction, enrichment, separation and ionisation onto a single paper strip, and the entire analysis process, from sample to result, can be carried out in less than 10 min requiring only 2 μL of raw human saliva. PA-MS achieved a LOQ of 185 ng mL-1, mean recovery of 107 ± 7%, mean accuracy of 11 ± 8% and precision ≤5% using four concentrations, and had excellent linearity (r2 = 0.9988) in the range of 0.2-200 μg mL-1 covering the treatment concentration range, surpassing the best-in-class methods currently available for paracetamol analysis. Furthermore, from a panel of human saliva samples, inter-individual variability was found to be <10% using this approach. This technique represents a promising tool for rapid and accurate emergency diagnosis.

Nafion: New and Old Insights into Structure and Function

The work reports a number of results on the dynamics of swelling and inferred nanostructure of the ion-exchange polymer membrane Nafion in different aqueous solutions. The techniques used were photoluminescent and Fourier transform IR (FTIR) spectroscopy. The centers of photoluminescence were identified as the sulfonic groups localized at the ends of the perfluorovinyl ether (Teflon) groups that form the backbone of Nafion. Changes in deuterium content of water induced unexpected results revealed in the process of polymer swelling. In these experiments, deionized (DI) water (deuterium content 157 ppm) and deuterium depleted water (DDW) with deuterium content 3 PPM, were investigated. The strong hydration of sulfonic groups involves a competition between ortho- and para-magnetic forms of a water molecule. Deuterium, as it seems, adsorbs competitively on the sulfonic groups and thus can change the geometry of the sulfate bonds. With photoluminescent spectroscopy experiments, this is reflected in the unwinding of the polymer fibers into the bulk of the adjoining water on swelling. The unwound fibers do not tear off from the polymer substrate. They form a vastly extended "brush" type structure normal to the membrane surface. This may have implications for specificity of ion transport in biology, where the ubiquitous glycocalyx of cells and tissues invariably involves highly sulfated polymers such asheparan and chondroitin sulfate.

Rapid and flexible online desalting using Nafion-coated melamine sponge for mass spectrometry analysis

RATIONALE

The performance of mass spectrometry (MS) analysis is often affected by the presence of salt ions. To achieve optimal MS detection results, desalting is necessary for samples with high salt concentrations. We report a rapid, low-cost and flexible online desalting method using Nafion-coated sponge. This method is easy to perform and can be implemented to a wide range of customized fluidic systems.

METHODS

Nafion-coated melamine sponge was fabricated by soaking a glass tube containing a melamine sponge in Nafion solution and then drying overnight. The online desalting workflow is comprised of three major parts: (1) Syringe pump, which provides a continuous flow for the online fluid system; (2) Nafion sponge in a glass tube, where the online desalting of sample solution happens; (3) Capillary Vibrating Sharp-Edge Spray Ionization (cVSSI), which is an ionization technique to ionize the desalted analytes.

RESULTS

Effective online desalting of a 10 mM NaCl solution was demonstrated for a wide range of molecules including small molecules, peptides, DNAs, and proteins using a flow rate of 10 μL/min. By incorporating multiple pieces of the Nafion-coated sponge, effective desalting for ubiquitin and cytochrome c (Cyt-c) from physiological buffers, including phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) and tris-buffered saline (TBS), were also achieved. For molecules that are sensitive to low pH conditions after desalting, a R-SO3 NH4 -type Nafion-coated sponge was fabricated. Desalting of ubiquitin, oligosaccharide, and DNA oligomers from 10 mM NaCl or 10 mM KCl solutions was demonstrated.

CONCLUSIONS

Flexible, low-cost, and efficient online desalting was achieved by the Nafion-coated sponge. A variety of molecules ranging from small molecules, peptides, proteins to oligosaccharides and DNAs can be desalted for MS analysis. The desalting by Nafion sponge has great potential for desalting applications that require customized fluidic design and rapid analysis.

Possibility to Alter Dynamics of Luminescence from Surface of Polymer Membrane with Ultrasonic Waves

The temporal dynamics of luminescence from the surface of Nafion polymer membranes have been studied. In fact, the polymer membrane was soaked in liquids with different contents of deuterium. The test liquids were ordinary (natural) water (deuterium content equal to 157 ppm) and deuterium-depleted water (deuterium content is equal to 3 ppm). Simultaneously with the excitation of luminescence, the Nafion plate was irradiated with ultrasonic pulses, having a duration of 1 μs. The ultrasonic waves were generated with different repetition rates and amplitudes, and irradiated the surface of Nafion in the geometry of grazing or normal incidence. Luminescence regimes were studied when the membrane was irradiated with one ultrasonic wave (one piezoelectric transducer) or two counter-propagating waves (two piezoelectric transducers). It turned out that ultrasonic waves, which fall normal to the membrane interface, do not affect the dynamics of luminescence. At the same time, in the case of ultrasonic irradiation in the grazing incidence geometry, sharp jumps in the luminescence intensity occur, and the behavior of these jumps substantially depends on the mode of irradiation: one or two piezoelectric transducers. This allows for control of the dynamics of luminescence from the polymer surface. In accordance with this model, the possibility of altering the luminescence dynamics is due to the effect of unwinding the polymer fibers from the surface toward the liquid bulk upon soaking. It is important that such unwinding does not occur in deuterium-depleted water, which was confirmed in a direct experiment with dynamic light scattering from polydisperse aqueous suspensions of Nafion nanometer-sized particles; these suspensions were prepared in ordinary water and deuterium-depleted water. Thus, ultrasonic irradiation affects the dynamics of luminescence only when Nafion is swollen in ordinary water; in the case of deuterium-depleted water this effect is missed.

Advances in ionisation techniques for mass spectrometry-based omics research

Omics analysis by mass spectrometry (MS) is a vast field, with proteomics, metabolomics and lipidomics dominating recent research by exploiting biological MS ionisation techniques. Traditional MS ionisation techniques such as electrospray ionisation have limitations in analyte-specific sensitivity, modes of sampling and throughput, leading to many researchers investigating new ionisation methods for omics research. In this review, we examine the current landscape of these new ionisation techniques, divided into the three groups of (electro)spray-based, laser-based and other miscellaneous ionisation techniques. Due to the wide range of new developments, this review can only provide a starting point for further reading on each ionisation technique, as each have unique benefits, often for specialised applications, which promise beneficial results for different areas in the omics world.

Nafion Swelling in Salt Solutions in a Finite Sized Cell: Curious Phenomena Dependent on Sample Preparation Protocol

When a membrane of Nafion swells in water, polymer fibers "unwind" into the adjoining liquid. They extend to a maximum of about ~300 μm. We explore features of Nafion nanostructure in several electrolyte solutions that occur when the swelling is constrained to a cell of size less than a distance of 300 μm. The constraint forces the polymer fibers to abut against the cell windows. The strongly amphiphilic character of the polymer leads to a shear stress field and the expulsion of water from the complex swollen fiber mixture. An air cavity is formed. It is known that Nafion membrane swelling is highly sensitive to small changes in ion concentration and exposure to shaking. Here we probe such changes further by studying the dynamics of the collapse of the induced cavity. Deionized water and aqueous salt solutions were investigated with Fourier IR spectrometry. The characteristic times of collapse differ for water and for the salt solutions. The dynamics of the cavity collapse differs for solutions prepared by via different dilution protocols. These results are surprising. They may have implications for the standardization of pharmaceutical preparation processes.