Danielle Libong

Comparison of electrospray ionization, atmospheric pressure chemical ionization and atmospheric pressure photoionization for a lipidomic analysis of Leishmania donovani.

A comparison of electrospray ionization (ESI), atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) and atmospheric pressure photoionization (APPI) for the analysis of a wide range of lipids has been performed on standard mixtures and extracts of Leishmania donovani promastigotes resistant to Amphotericin B (AmB). Calibration model, precision, limits of detection and quantification (LOD and LOQ) were assessed for each source. APPI provided the highest signal, signal-to-noise (S/N), and sensitivity for non-polar and low-polarity lipids, while ESI and APCI gave better results for the most polar ones. The linear model was valid for all lipids, except for one class with APPI, six classes with ESI, and eleven classes with APCI. LODs ranged from 0.2 to 20 μg mL(-1) for ESI, from 0.1 to 10 μg mL(-1) for APCI, and from 0.02 to 9.5 μg mL(-1) for APPI. LOQs ranged from 0.2 to 61 μg mL(-1) for ESI, from 0.4 to 31 μg mL(-1) for APCI, and from 0.1 to 29 μg mL(-1) for APPI. Each source provided similar lipid composition and variations in a comparison of three different L. donovani samples: miltefosine-treated, miltefosine-resistant and treated miltefosine-resistant parasites. A treated miltefosine-resistant sample was finally analyzed with each ion source in order to verify that the same lipid molecular species are detected.

Low-Pressure Chemical Ionization in Ion Trap Mass Spectrometry:

This article presents the specificities of low-pressure chemical ionization in ion trap mass spectrometry. One main feature is the ability to perform chemical ionization with liquid reagents as readily as with “conventional” gases (methane, isobutane and ammonia). The reactivities and analytical applications of gas and liquid reagents are summarized from literature data and are compared when possible.

Adsorption–desorption effects in ion trap mass spectrometry using in situ ionization

Quadrupole mass spectrometers were compared for the GC-MS analysis of six molecules frequently encountered in analytical toxicology: diazepam, alprazolam, triazolam, LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide), trimethylsilylated LSD and trimethylsilylated buprenorphine. Experiments performed with ion trap detectors using in situ ionization led to important chromatographic peak tailing for the most polar compounds; it was assumed to result from adsorption-desorption of neutral molecules in the mass spectrometer. This study showed that the degree of peak tailing is correlated with analyte polarity, with materials coating ion trap surfaces and with analysis temperature and that this anomaly can be greatly reduced using passivated surfaces and a high temperature of analysis.

Collision-induced dissociations of trimethylsilylated lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) in ion trap multiple stage mass spectrometry

Abstract The first part of this work was devoted to the determination of the most sensitive GC–MS2 method for LSD detection on the ion trap apparatus. On neat samples, it has been shown that trimethylsilylation of LSD decreases the detection threshold by a factor 10 and that chemical ionization using acetonitrile as the reagent gas provides a method seven times more sensitive than electron ionization. The decomposition pathways of protonated trimethylsilylated LSD were determined owing to isotopic labeling and MSn experiments with n up to 4. The ion trap analyzer allowed the observation of intermediate ions that are not observed in triple quadrupole analysis. The resort to MS3 and MS4 experiments also permitted to show evidence of isobaric daughter ions and to attribute the corresponding structures.

Establishing high temperature gas chromatographic profiles of non-polar metabolites for quality assessment of African traditional herbal medicinal products.

The quality assessment of African traditional herbal medicinal products is a difficult challenge since they are complex mixtures of several herbal drug or herbal drug preparations. The plant source is also often unknown and/or highly variable. Plant metabolites chromatographic profiling is therefore an important tool for quality control of such herbal products. The objective of this work is to propose a protocol for sample preparation and gas chromatographic profiling of non-polar metabolites for quality control of African traditional herbal medicinal products. The methodology is based on the chemometric assessment of chromatographic profiles of non-polar metabolites issued from several batches of leaves of Combretum micranthum and Mitracarpus scaber by high temperature gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry, performed on extracts obtained in refluxed dichloromethane, after removal of chlorophyll pigments. The method using high temperature gas chromatography after dichloromethane extraction allows detection of most non-polar bioactive and non-bioactive metabolites already identified in leaves of both species. Chemometric data analysis using Principal Component Analysis and Partial Least Squares after Orthogonal Signal Correction applied to chromatographic profiles of leaves of Combretum micranthum and Mitracarpus scaber showed slight batch to batch differences, and allowed clear differentiation of the two herbal extracts.