• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.66
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• pp.338-344
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• 2023

Curcuma longa is a plant belonging to the genus Curcuma and is distributed across various Asian regions. This plant is widely known for its rhizomes, which possess a variety of pharmacological properties. However, although the leaves and stems of this plant also contain several health-promoting secondary metabolites, very few studies have characterized these compounds. Therefore, our study sought to quantify the secondary metabolites from the leaves and stems of Curcuma longa L. (LSCL) using liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS) and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Our LC-ESI-MS analyses detected twenty-one phenolic compounds in the LSCL, among which fifteen compounds were detected via HPLC analysis. Four compounds, namely vanillic acid (0.129 mg/g), p-coumaric acid (0.431 mg/g), 4-methylcatechol (0.199 mg/g), and afzelin (0.074 mg/g) were then quantified. These findings suggest that LSCL is rich in secondary metabolites and holds potential as a valuable resource for the development of functional and nutritional supplements in the future.

• Mass Spectrometry Letters
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.77-80
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• 2018

The focus of this paper is to present techniques to overcome certain difficulties in quantitative analysis with a time-of-flight mass spectrometer (TOF-MS). The method is based on conventional solid-phase extraction, followed by reversed-phase ultra high performance liquid chromatography of the extract, and mass spectrometric analysis. The target compounds included atenolol, atrazine, caffeine, carbamazepine, diclofenac, estrone, ibuprofen, naproxen, simazine, sucralose, sulfamethoxazole, and triclosan. The matrix effects caused by high concentrations of organic compounds in wastewater are especially significant in electrospray ionization mass spectroscopy. Internal-standard calibration with isotopically labeled standards corrects the results for many matrix effects, but some peculiarities were observed. The problems encountered in quantitation of carbamazepine and triclosan, due to nonlinear calibration were solved by changing the internal standard and using a narrower mass window. With simazine, the use of a quadratic calibration curve was the best solution.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.24 no.12
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• pp.1569-1582
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• 2015

The analytical method for 16 organophosphorus pesticides was developed in this study. The 16 organophosphorus pesticides were analyzed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) using on-line solid phase extraction (on-line SPE) with PLRP- S cartridge. Analysis of all analytes in the MS/MS was processed in the electrospray ioni-zation (ESI) positive mode. They are Azinphos ethyl, Chlorfenvinphos, Ethion, Famphur, Phosmet, Phosphamidon, Terbufos, Aspon, Chlorpyrifos-methyl, Crotoxyphos, Dichlofenthi-on, Dicrotophos, Fonofos, Thionazin, Dimethoate and Iprobenfos. Limits of detection (LODs) and Limits of quantification(LOQs) were obtained as 0.8~2.0 ng/L and 2.6~6.4 ng/L, respectively. All compounds were not detected at the 8 sampling points of the raw water and clean water.

• Mass Spectrometry Letters
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.90-97
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• 2017

Androgenic anabolic steroids (AASs) are synthetic derivatives of testosterone with a common structure containing cyclopentanoperhydrophenanthrene nucleus. Their use enhances the muscle building capacity and is beneficial during performance. The AASs are one of the most abused group of substances in horse doping. Liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry ($LC/MS^n$) has been successfully applied to the detection of anabolic steroids in biological samples. However, the saturated hydroxysteroids viz: nandrolone, $5{\alpha}-estrane-3{\beta}$, $17{\alpha}-diol$ exhibit lower detection responses in electrospray ionisation (ESI) because of their poor ionisation efficiency. To overcome this limitation pre-column chemical derivatization has been introduced to enhance their detection responses in $LC-ESI-MS^n$ analysis. The aim of present study was to develop a sensitive method for identification and confirmation of nandrolone and its metabolite in horse urine incorporating pre-column derivatization using picolinic acid. The method consists of extraction of targeted steroid conjugates by solid phase extraction (SPE). The eluted steroid conjugates were hydrolysed by methanolysis and free steroids were recovered with liquid-liquid extraction. The resulting steroids were derivatized to form picolinoyl esters and identification was done using LC-ESI-MS/MS in positive ionization mode. The picolinated steroid adduct enhanced the detection levels in comparison to underivatized steroids.

• Mass Spectrometry Letters
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.99-104
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• 2015

A liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS) system was used to identify and distinguish oligostilbene diastereoisomers. A polyphenolic extract from Neobalanocarpus heimii known to be rich in oligostilbenes of various degrees of condensation was used as test material. Fourteen oligostilbenes were isolated from this extract on a fully automated semi-preparative HPLC system. Out of these, two pairs of dimers, one pair of trimers, two pairs of tetramers and a group of four tetramers with similar skeleton were identified as diastereoisomers. Their structures and configurations were established by spectroscopic methods. All isolated compounds were subjected to an LC-MS/MS to study their fragmentation patterns. The experiments were performed on a liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) with electrospray-ionization (ESI) interface in positive mode. MS/MS spectra of each pure compound were recorded by direct infusion in identical conditions and their product ion spectra were analysed. Some subtle yet significant differences were observed between the spectra of oligostilbenes from the various diastereoisomeric series.

• Mass Spectrometry Letters
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.141-146
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• 2023

Liraglutide is a medication prescribed for the management of type 2 diabetes and chronic obesity. A simple, sensitive, and selective liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method was developed and validated for the quantitative analysis of liraglutide in rat plasma. After a simple protein precipitation step, liraglutide was chromatographically separated using the ACQUITY Premier Peptide BEH C18 Column with mobile phases comprising 50% acetonitrile and 50% methanol, and water with 0.3% FA. Positive ion electrospray ionization in multiple reaction monitoring mode was used to achieve detection. Good linearity was observed in the 5-600 ng/mL concentration range (R² > 0.99). Liraglutide had intra- and inter-day precision values of 2.13%-9.86% and 4.14%-8.36%, respectively. The accuracy ranged from -2.36% to 2.58%. The recovery and matrix effect were within acceptable limits. This selective LC-MS/MS method was used to study the pharmacokinetic properties of liraglutide after subcutaneous administration in rats.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.109-114
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• 2004

A sensitive method for quantitation of glimepiride in human plasma has been established using liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (LC-ESI/MS/MS). Glipizide was used as an internal standard. Glimepiride and internal standard in plasma sample was extracted using diethyl etherethyl acetate (1 : 1). A centrifuged upper layer was then evaporated and reconstituted with the mobile phase of acetonitrile-5 mM ammonium acetate (60:40, pH 3.0). The reconstituted samples were injected into a $C_{18}$ reversed-phase column. Using MS/MS in the multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode, glimepiride and glipizide were detected without severe interference from human plasma matrix. Glimepiride produced a protonated precursor ion ([M+H]$^+$) at m/z 491 and a corresponding product ion at m/z 352. And the internal standard produced a protonated precursor ion ([M+H]]$^+$) at m/z 446 and a corresponding product ion at m/z 321. Detection of glimepiride in human plasma by the LC-ESI/MS/MS method was accurate and precise with a quantitation limit of 0.1 ng/mL. The validation, reproducibility, stability, and recovery of the method were evaluated. The method has been successfully applied to pharmacokinetic studies of glimepiride in human plasma.

• Mass Spectrometry Letters
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.109-113
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• 2017

Single analytical procedure including extraction, liquid chromatography, and mass spectrometric analysis was evaluated for the simultaneous measurement of lysophospholipids (LPLs). LPLs, particularly, lysophosphatidic acids (LPA) and sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P) are lipid messengers ubiquitously found in various biological matrix. The molecular species mediate important physiological roles in association with many diseases (e.g. cancer, inflammation, and neurodegenerative disease), which emphasize the significance of the simple and reliable analytical method for biomarker discovery and molecular mechanistic understanding. Thus, we developed analytical method mainly focusing on, but not limited by those lipid species S1P and LPA using reverse phase liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (RPLC-ESI-MS-MS). Extraction method was modified based on Folch method with optimally minimal level of ionization additive (ammonium formate 10 mM and formic acid). Reverse-phase liquid-chromatography was applied for chromatographical separation in combination with negative ionization mode electrospray-coupled Orbitrap mass spectrometry. The method validation was performed on human blood plasma in a non-targeted lipid profiling manner with full-scan MS mode and data-dependent MS/MS. The proposed method presented good inter-assay precision for primary targets, S1P and LPA. Subsequent analysis of other types of LPLs identified a broad range of lysophosphatidylcholines (LPCs) and lysophosphatidyl-ethanolamines (LPEs).

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.959-967
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• 2010

Down syndrome (DS) is an abnormality of the 21st chromosome that commonly occurs in children born to older women. Thus, amniotic fluid (AF) is usually collected from such women for prenatal diagnosis. This study analyzed human AF supernatants (AFS) using a mass spectrometric (MS) approach to search for candidate biomarkers of a DS pregnancy. The AFS were collected from older pregnant women at weeks 16-18 of their gestation by amniocentesis for cytogenetic analysis. The AFS from the pregnancies carrying DS (n=4) or chromosomally normal (n=6) fetuses, as revealed by the cytogenetic analysis, were then subjected to global protein profiling based on liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS/MS). Affinity chromatography was also applied prior to the LC-ESI-MS/MS to minimize the masking effect of highly abundant albumin and immunoglobulin and thereby increase the diversity of the identified proteins. As a result, at least 30 new AFS proteins were identified and 44 AFS proteins were found to be differentially expressed between the DS and normal cases, where 6 of the proteins were unique to the DS cases and 11 were unique to the chromosomally normal cases. In addition, in the DS cases, 19 AFS proteins were downregulated and 8 were upregulated to varying degrees. A Western blot analysis confirmed the LC-ESI-MS/MS data, indicating that the combined detection of apolipoprotein A-II (apoA-II) and alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) could be a potential tool for diagnosing DS cases.

• Mass Spectrometry Letters
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.20-23
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• 2011

The purpose of this study is to investigate the in vitro metabolism of hesperetin, a bioflavonoid. Hesperetin was incubated with rat liver microsomes in the presence of NADPH and UDP-glucuronic acid for 30 min. The reaction mixture was analyzed by liquid chromatography-ion trap mass spectrometer and the chemical structures of hesperetin metabolites were characterzed based on their MS/MS spectra. As a result, a total of five metabolites were detected in rat liver microsomes. The metabolites were identified as a de-methylated metabolite (eriodictyol), two hesperetin glucuronides, and two eriodictyol glucuronides.