Determination of phenylglyoxylic acid and mandelic acid in urine by ultra high performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry

Abstract

Objective: To develop a method for the analysis of phenylglyoxylic acid (PGA) and mandelic acid (MA) in urine by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. Methods: The study was conducted in April 2022. Urine samples were directly diluted with the initial mobile phase, separated by Waters HSS T3 column after passing through the membrane, and analyzed under negative ionization mode (ESI(-)) and multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) conditions, the contents of PGA and MA in human urine were quantitatively determined by external standard method. Results: The determination of PGA and MA showed a good linear relationship within the range of 10-1000 ng/ml, with a correlation coefficient of 0.9999. The linear regression equation of PGA was y=1141.4x+2157.3, the detection limit and lower limit of quantification of the method were 0.081 ng/ml and 0.269 ng/ml, and the recovery rate was 90.47%-99.83%. The linear regression equation of MA was y=62.8x+140.3, the detection limit and lower limit of quantification of the method were 0.551 ng/ml and 1.836 ng/ml, and the recovery rate was 92.75%-101.09%. The intra and inter batch precision of PGA and MA were both<5%. Conclusion: An ultra-high performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry method for the analysis of PGA and MA in urine was established.The sample pretreatment operation is simple, and the accuracy and precision of the method meet the standard requirements. It can be used for monitoring and evaluating PGA and MA in urine of the general population and occupational contact population.