Fragmentation patterns of boron-dipyrromethene (BODIPY) dyes by electrospray ionization high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry.
RAPID COMMUNICATIONS IN MASS SPECTROMETRY : RCM 2015;
29:885-890. [PMID:
26377017 DOI:
10.1002/rcm.7179]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/16/2014] [Revised: 01/24/2015] [Accepted: 02/21/2015] [Indexed: 06/05/2023]
Abstract
RATIONALE
4,4-Difluoro-4-bora-3a,4a-diaza-s-indacene derivatives (BODIPYs) are fluorescent organic dyes that are widely used as non-radioactive labels in biological analyses. The fragmentation behaviour of ten structurally related BODIPYs was studied using tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS), to support the structural elucidation process during synthesis.
METHODS
The BODIPYs were investigated by electrospray ionization (ESI)-MS/MS, utilizing collision-induced dissociation (CID) data from triple quadrupole MS and high-resolution, accurate mass CID data from Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FTICR) experiments.
RESULTS
Unusual radical molecular cations ([M](+•)) were formed directly during the ESI process. These radical species dissociated into a large range of product ions during the subsequent CID experiments. Superimposed dissociations originating from parallel [M](+•) and [M+H](+) decompositions significantly complicated the interpretation of the MS/MS spectra.
CONCLUSIONS
Detailed dissociation mechanisms were proposed in this study for BODIPY dyes. The elemental formulae of CID product ions were unambiguously assigned using FTICR-MS and unique fragment ions were discovered for the rapid identification of methyl, ethyl, butyl, tert-butyl, and phenyl substituents of individual dyes in BODIPY synthesis mixtures by low-resolution MS.
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