Differentiation of dihydroxyarene isomers using metal complexation and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry

MATÍAS BUTLER; ARROYO MAÑEZ PAU ; CABRERA, GABRIELA M

Denver, Colorado

Congreso; 59th ASMS Conference on Mass Spectrometry and Allied Topics; 2011

American Society for Mass Spectrometry

Complexation with metal ions in solution, followed by efficient transport of charged complexes to the gas phase by electrospray ionization (ESI), represents a promising method for ionization of a variety of analytes, including those that are not directly amenable to ESI. Differentiation by mass spectrometry of dihydroxyarene isomers and their derivatives is relevant in the development of methods which can analyze them simultaneously. Protonated molecules of isomeric dihydroxyarenes as well as the singly/doubly charged adducts formed from neutral or deprotonated ligands and a doubly/triply charged metal ion were produced in the gas phase using ESI, recording mass spectra with different metal ions for each isomer. Mass spectra obtained with the different metal cations exhibited several characteristic species for each isomer thus allowing the differentiation.  The practical application of metal complexation in LC/ESI-MS, as a detection method for distinguishing the dihydroxyarene isomers was tested. Thus, with a simple LC/ESI-MS experiment, significant structural information might be derived from the spectra observed according to the metal utilized.