Effect of ionization suppression by trace impurities in mobile phase water on the accuracy of quantification by high-performance liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry

Degradation Kinetics of Methyl Orange Dye in Water Using Trimetallic Fe/Cu/Ag Nanoparticles

The release of azo dye contaminants from textile industries into the environment is an issue of major concern. Nanoscale zerovalent iron (nZVI) has been extensively studied in the degradation of azo dye pollutants such as methyl orange (MO). In this study, iron was coupled with copper and silver to make trimetallic Fe/Cu/Ag nanoparticles, in order to enhance the degradation of MO and increase reactivity of the catalyst by delaying the rate of oxidation of iron. The synthesis of the trimetallic nanoparticles (Fe/Cu/Ag) was carried out using the sodium borohydride reduction method. The characterization of the particles was performed using XRD, XPS, EDX, and TEM. The analyses confirmed the successful synthesis of the nanoparticles; the TEM images also showed the desired structures and geometry of the nanoscale zerovalent iron particles. The assessment of the nanoparticles in the degradation of methyl orange showed a notable degradation within few minutes into the reaction. The effect of parameters such as nanoparticle dosage, initial MO concentration, and the solution pH on the degradation of MO using the nanoparticles was investigated. Methyl orange degradation efficiency reached 100% within 1 min into the reaction at a low pH, with lower initial MO concentration and higher nanoparticle dosage. The degradation rate of MO using the nanoparticles followed pseudo first-order kinetics and was greatly influenced by the studied parameters. Additionally, LC-MS technique confirmed the degradation of MO within 1 min and that the degradation occurs through the splitting of the azo bond. The Fe/Cu/Ag trimetallic nanoparticles have proven to be an appropriate and efficient alternative for the treatment of dye wastewater.

Optimized multimatrix calibration concept for liquid chromatography mass spectrometry-based bioanalysis methods

In this paper, a calibration procedure for LC/MS-based bioanalysis methods, termed "A/B fortification", is proposed. The concept relies on the post-extraction fortification (B-spike) of an aliquot of the injection-ready sample extract for the determination and compensation of specific signal suppression or enhancement effects compared to matrix-free extract prepared in buffer or mobile phase. Conventional analyte recovery, observed due to the incomplete extraction of analytes from the sample or losses during a cleanup, is determined by the conventional pre-extraction fortification (A-spike) of a blank sample that belongs to the same type of matrix as the sample with the unknown analyte concentration. This approach permits a higher throughput than conventional sample fortification strategies. The results obtained by utilizing the A/B fortification concept were extensively compared against conventional methods (representative bank matrix fortification, sample fortification and internal standard). The proposed concept (based on the pre-fortification of a reference matrix and post-fortification of the sample) was found to be significantly less biased than internal standard-based techniques. The A/B fortification indicated a better accuracy than the sample fortification or representative blank matrix fortification approach and, most importantly, produced significantly fewer outliers. This was linked to the fact that in the case of the A/B fortification, the uncertainty of the subtraction of two peak areas (fortified minus unfortified sample) is reduced, because fortifications are not made prior to the extraction step but are made into the final injection-ready sample extract. Fortification into an injection-ready aliquot eliminates all sample processing-related differences (procedural errors), which can affect conventional sample fortification-based quantifications.

Nanomolar Surface-Active Charged Impurities Account for the Zeta Potential of Hydrophobic Surfaces

The electrification of hydrophobic surfaces is an intensely debated subject in physical chemistry. We theoretically study the ζ potential of hydrophobic surfaces for varying pH and salt concentration by solving the Poisson-Boltzmann and Stokes equations with individual ionic adsorption affinities. Using the ionic surface affinities extracted from the experimentally measured surface tension of the air-electrolyte interface, we first show that the interfacial adsorption and repulsion of small inorganic ions such as H₃O⁺, OH^-, HCO₃^-, and CO₃^2- cannot account for the ζ potential observed in experiments because the surface affinities of these ions are too small. Even if we take hydrodynamic slip into account, the characteristic dependence of the ζ potential on pH and salt concentration cannot be reproduced. Instead, to explain the sizable experimentally measured ζ potential of hydrophobic surfaces, we assume minute amounts of impurities in the water and include the impurities' acidic and basic reactions with water. We find good agreement between our predictions and the reported experimental ζ potential data of various hydrophobic surfaces if we account for impurities that consist of a mixture of weak acids (pK_a = 5-7) and weak bases (pK_b = 12) at a concentration of the order of 10^-7 M.

Identification of two novel trace impurities in mobile phases prepared with commercial formic acid

While liquid chromatography/high-resolution mass spectrometry (LC/HRMS) is a versatile analytical technique, it is also sensitive to trace impurities. These impurities may come from a variety of sources, including reagents, solvents, and the sample matrix itself. Impurities in reagents may become concentrated and elute as peaks when a gradient method is used, and these peaks may cause suppression of peaks of interest both in the electrospray source, as well as in the C-trap in systems that contain one.

METHODS

We observed a notable increase in the size of several impurity peaks in a reversed-phase gradient method upon switching suppliers of formic acid. We used LC/HRMS to separate and fragment these impurity compounds and assign probable formulae.

RESULTS

The mass spectra were compared with those of compounds found in the literature with the same formulae, and the observed peaks were matched to two amine compounds not previously reported as impurities in LC/MS systems: trihexylamine and N-methyldihexylamine. The identities were confirmed by high-resolution accurate mass and retention time matching against commercially available standards of these compounds.

CONCLUSIONS

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that trihexylamine and N-methyldihexylamine have been reported in such systems. We hypothesize that these are derived from the formic acid manufacturing process and recommend that users monitor purchased formic acid for the presence of impurities.

Standard addition with internal standardisation as an alternative to using stable isotope labelled internal standards to correct for matrix effects-Comparison and validation using liquid chromatography-​tandem mass spectrometric assay of vitamin D

With mass spectrometric detection in liquid chromatography, co-eluting impurities affect the analyte response due to ion suppression/enhancement. Internal standard calibration method, using co-eluting stable isotope labelled analogue of each analyte as the internal standard, is the most appropriate technique available to correct for these matrix effects. However, this technique is not without drawbacks, proved to be expensive because separate internal standard for each analyte is required, and the labelled compounds are expensive or require synthesising. Traditionally, standard addition method has been used to overcome the matrix effects in atomic spectroscopy and was a well-established method. This paper proposes the same for mass spectrometric detection, and demonstrates that the results are comparable to those with the internal standard method using labelled analogues, for vitamin D assay. As conventional standard addition procedure does not address procedural errors, we propose the inclusion of an additional internal standard (not co-eluting). Recoveries determined on human serum samples show that the proposed method of standard addition yields more accurate results than the internal standardisation using stable isotope labelled analogues. The precision of the proposed method of standard addition is superior to the conventional standard addition method.

Elimination of isobaric interference and signal-to-noise ratio enhancement using on-line mobile phase filtration in liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry

RATIONALE

Liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) instruments are selective and sensitive but can still be affected by isobaric interference or chemical noise arising from multiple sources such as the mobile phase. In this study, a high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) on-line mobile phase filtration setup is described and used to remove interference to allow better detection of the analyte of interest.

METHODS

For instance, a filtration device containing a chemical sorbent is installed at the HPLC outlet of the aqueous solvent pump A or the organic solvent pump B. This manuscript reports different case scenarios under reversed-phase and HILIC separations either in positive (ESI(+)) or negative electrospray ionization (ESI(-)) mode using selected reaction monitoring (SRM) scans as well as additional Q1 MS scans.

RESULTS

The filtration of the aqueous effluent of the mobile phase using a porous graphitic carbon filter eliminated the isobaric interferences and improved the detectability of gestodene and perindopril-D4. Also, a strong cation-exchange guard column installed at the acetonitrile outlet pump was found helpful on reducing the baseline intensity and improving significantly the signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) of methenamine. Moreover, the on-line mobile phase filtration was efficient at removing chemical background ions in full scan mode.

CONCLUSIONS

This strategy demonstrated its usefulness by removing co-eluting isobaric interference, and reducing chemical background ions from the mobile phase, while drastically improving S/N.

Study of beta endorphin metabolism in inflamed tissue, serum and trypsin solution by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometric analysis

Beta endorphin (β-END) is recognised as one of the most significant endogenous neuropeptides, responsible for a wide range of biological activities in the body. However, within the body β-END is exposed to hydrolysis by a variety of enzymes. In this study, we investigated the metabolism and fragmentation pattern of β-END in rat inflamed tissue, in rat serum and in trypsin solution. β-END (1-31)-rat was incubated at 37 °C in each matrix for different incubation times. The resultant fragments were separated using a C4 column and detected by mass spectrometry using total ion current mode. Structural information for the fragments was elucidated using tandem mass spectrometry. Incubation of β-END (1-31)-rat in trypsin solution and in rat serum resulted in 8 and 13 fragments, respectively. Incubation in inflamed rat paw tissue resulted in 22 fragments at pH 7.4 and 26 fragments at pH 5.5. Some of these fragments were common to both pH values. The degradation of β-END (1-31)-rat in inflamed tissue at pH 5.5 was faster than that at pH 7.4. Secondary fragmentation of some larger primary fragments was also observed in this study.

Accounting for matrix effects of pesticide residue liquid chromatography/electrospray ionisation mass spectrometric determination by treatment of background mass spectra with chemometric tools

Matrix effect (ME) - ionisation suppression or enhancement - in liquid chromatography/electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry (LC/ESI-MS) is caused by matrix components co-eluting with the analytes. ME has a complex and not fully understood nature. ME is also highly variable from sample to sample making it difficult to compensate for. In this work it was studied whether the background ion signals in scanned mass spectra of the LC effluent at the retention time of the analyte offer some insight into the presence and extent of matrix effect. Matrix effects for six pesticides - thiabendazole, carbendazime, methomyl, aldicarb, imazalil and methiocarb - in garlic and onion samples used in the study varied from 1% (suppression 99%) to 127% (enhancement 27%) depending on the pesticide and sample. Also standards in solvent and solvent blanks were included in the study. The ions most strongly varying from sample to sample - and therefore best describing the changes in sample composition and ME - were selected for quantification according to principal component analysis (PCA) for all six pesticides under study. These ions were used to account for ME via partial least-squares (PLS) regression. The calibration set was constructed from 19 samples and standards and the obtained calibration function was validated with seven samples and standards. The average errors from the test set were from 0.05 to 0.27 mg/kg for carbendazim and imazalil, respectively (the respective average pesticide concentrations were 0.22 and 0.88 mg/kg). The PLS results were significantly more accurate compared to the conventional solvent calibration resulting in average errors from 0.07 to 0.69 mg/kg for carbendazime and methiocarb, respectively.