Dielectric barrier discharge ionization in characterization of organic compounds separated on thin-layer chromatography plates.

Michał Cegłowski,Teodor Gotszalk,Michał Babij,Jerzy Silberring,Grzegorz Schroeder,Marek Smoluch,Andrew C Gill

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0106088

Abstract

A new method for on-spot detection and characterization of organic compounds resolved on thin layer chromatography (TLC) plates has been proposed. This method combines TLC with dielectric barrier discharge ionization (DBDI), which produces stable low-temperature plasma. At first, the compounds were separated on TLC plates and then their mass spectra were directly obtained with no additional sample preparation. To obtain good quality spectra the center of a particular TLC spot was heated from the bottom to increase volatility of the compound. MS/MS analyses were also performed to additionally characterize all analytes. The detection limit of proposed method was estimated to be 100 ng/spot of compound.

Highlights

Thin-layer chromatography (TLC) is a very simple, costeffective and fast chromatographic technique allowing separation of most chemical mixtures [1]
To examine the performance of dielectric barrier discharge ionization (DBDI) in the on-spot detection of compounds separated on TLC plates, solutions of six compounds were deposited onto plates
The most intense signals belonging to contaminants are observed at m/z 279.1 and 205.1 and derive from di-n-butyl phthalate (DBP) [35], which is commonly used as a plasticizer in plastics, from which dielectric barrier discharges (DBD) ion source has been manufactured

Summary

Introduction

Thin-layer chromatography (TLC) is a very simple, costeffective and fast chromatographic technique allowing separation of most chemical mixtures [1]. For definite identification of the compound, which has been visualized, it must be compared with a standard that has been simultaneously eluted on TLC. Coupling TLC and mass spectrometry (MS), which is a very useful tool for structural analysis of organic compounds, would make a simple and easy to operate technique. That is why the application of mass spectrometry in characterization of compounds separated on TLC plates has been a subject of interest for many scientists [2,3] and recently some reviews on this topic have been published [4,5,6,7]. The TLC-MS methods can be divided into indirect sampling TLC-MS and direct sampling TLC-MS [5]

Methods

Results

Conclusion