A new post-chromatographic derivatization approach to identification of alcohols and phenols in complex mixtures by a combination of planar chromatography and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry
T14N4
C.A. Esparza, N.Yu. Polovkov, R.S. Borisov, A.V. Varlamov, V.G. Zaikin
Simple and suitable approach for post-chromatographic derivatization in the analysis of mixtures of alcohols and phenols by combination of thin-layer chromatography and MALDI mass spectrometry was suggested for the first time. Chemical modification of analytes was accomplished by the treatment of eluted zones on thin-layer chromatograms by 3-bromopropionyl chloride in the presence of excess of a base (pyridine or triethylamine). The resulting derivatives contained a residue with fixed charge (ammonium fragment) that provided an efficient desorption of derivatized analytes from the sorbent layer during MALDI. It was shown that the suggested approach allows the recording of mass spectra with high signal/noise ratio and the detection of alcohols and phenols of different structures. Reproducibility of such MALDI mass spectra is rather high which predetermines a possibility to build the chromatogram curves using total or selected ion current and, hence, their visualization and treatment on quantitative level.
