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Coupling of Ultrafast LC with Mass Spectrometry by DESI

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Journal of The American Society for Mass Spectrometry

Abstract

Recently we reported a desorption electrospray ionization (DESI) interface to combine liquid chromatography (LC) with mass spectrometry (MS) using a new LC eluent splitting strategy through a tiny orifice on LC capillary tube [J. Am. Soc. Mass Spectrom. 25, 286 (2014)]. The interface introduces negligible dead volume and back pressure, thereby allowing “near real-time” MS detection, fast LC elution, and online MS-directed purification. This study further evaluates the LC/DESI-MS performance with focus of using ultra-fast LC. Using a monolithic C18 column, metabolites in urine can be separated within 1.6 min and can be online collected for subsequent structure elucidation (e.g., by NMR, UV, IR) in a recovery yield up to 99%. Using a spray solvent with alkaline pH, negative ions could be directly generated for acidic analytes (e.g., ibuprofen) in acidic LC eluent by DESI, offering a novel protocol to realize “wrong-way around” ionization for LC/MS analysis. In addition, DESI-MS is found to be compatible with ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) for the first time.

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Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge support forthis work by NSF Career Award (CHE-1149367).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Intelligent Chemical Instrumentation, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Ohio University, Athens, OH, 45701, USA

    Yi Cai & Hao Chen

  2. Merck Research Laboratories, Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, 07065, USA

    Yong Liu & Roy Helmy

  3. Edison Biotechnology Institute, Ohio University, Athens, OH, 45701, USA

    Hao Chen

Authors
  1. Yi Cai
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  2. Yong Liu
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  3. Roy Helmy
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  4. Hao Chen
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Correspondence to Hao Chen.

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Cai, Y., Liu, Y., Helmy, R. et al. Coupling of Ultrafast LC with Mass Spectrometry by DESI. J. Am. Soc. Mass Spectrom. 25, 1820–1823 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13361-014-0954-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13361-014-0954-4

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