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A simple high pH liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method for basic compounds: Application to ephedrines in doping control analysis
Journal article   Peer reviewed

A simple high pH liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method for basic compounds: Application to ephedrines in doping control analysis

Nicola Gray, Alessandro Musenga, David A. Cowan, Rob Plumb and Norman W. Smith
Journal of Chromatography A, Vol.1218(15), pp.2098-2105
2011
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chroma.2010.10.104
PMID: 21094950
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Abstract

Liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry Doping analysis Ephedrines Electrospray ionisation (ESI) Atmospheric pressure chemical ionisation (APCI) High pH mobile phase
Solvent systems for use with LC–MS often result in a compromise between chromatographic performance and mass spectrometric detection, exemplified here by a LC–MS/MS method development for the analysis of ephedrines in doping control. Ephedrines, frequently found in therapeutic and nutritional preparations, are among the most commonly administered doping agents in competitive sport. Improved separation of these hydrophilic, basic compounds, some of which are diastereoisomers, is achieved in reversed-phase LC by the use of a high pH mobile phase in order to suppress analyte ionisation, and thus alter their polarity, resulting in reduced peak tailing and enhanced retention. However, when coupled to an ESI-MS detector, this eluent composition generated a non-linear and poorly reproducible signal. APCI yielded greater stability and reproducibility and is here presented as an ion source for the analysis of basic compounds under conditions that suppress their ionisation. Errors as large as 49.3% were observed with ESI, compared with 15.4% generated using APCI, for pseudoephedrine over the calibration range (25–400 μg/mL) in urine with a simple dilution and injection of samples. These data highlight the importance of suitable MS conditions for stable performance, necessary for accurate quantification, without undue compromise to the LC separation.

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Citation topics
2 Chemistry
2.166 Chromatography & Electrophoresis
2.166.423 Chromatography Techniques
Web Of Science research areas
Biochemical Research Methods
Chemistry, Analytical
ESI research areas
Chemistry
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