Coupling Chromatographic Techniques with FABMS for the Structural Analysis of Biological Compounds

Abstract

High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) has become an indispensable tool to the biochemist and molecular biologist for the separation of polar and charged compounds derived from biological systems. It is obvious that coupling this technique to mass spectrometry provides a powerful mass specific detection and analysis system which is unmatched in terms of its combined specificity and sensitivity. The success of FAB for the analysis of polar compounds has led to a number of approaches for coupling HPLC and FABMS. This article will discuss interfacing the continuous-flow fast atom bombardment (CF-FAB) technique with HPLC (1, 2) and applications of this technique. It is noted that other methods of coupling these have been described, namely, the moving belt (3) and frit-FAB techniques (4). Other types of separation processes have been coupled with FAB as well, including thin layer chromatography (TLC) (5) and capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) (6). All three separation techniques play significant roles in the biochemistry laboratory, and are significantly enhanced when coupled with mass spectrometry.