Abstract
Ambient ionization mass spectrometry has become one of the most promising approaches for rapid and high-throughput screening of small molecules in complex biological matrices for emergency medicine, forensics, and food and agriculture applications. The simple procedures for sample collection and ionization without additional pretreatment are vital in these fields. Many efforts have been devoted to modifying various ambient ionization techniques to simplify the procedures and improve the robustness and sensitivity of the methods. Here, we demonstrate the implementation of rigid spherical sampler probes to improve the robustness of touch spray ionization mass spectrometry. The sphericity of the probes increases the stability of the cone-jet mode of electrospray, reduces the requirements for fine positioning of a sampler in the ion source, and decreases the possibility of corona discharge occurrence. The utilization of spherical sampler probes allows fast, non-invasive sampling, followed by rapid analysis for various drugs of different chemical classes in complex biological matrices, such as the whole blood or sebum collected from the skin surface. The linearity of the analytical signal response from drug concentration confirms the possibility of creating a simple semiquantitative method for small molecules monitoring using spherical sampler probes.
Highlights
Ambient ionization mass spectrometry has recently become one of the most promising analytical instruments in medical practice [1]
We report a simple and rapid method of determination and quantification of therapeutic drugs through ambient ionization mass spectrometry using a spherical polymer sampler probe (Figure 1), which simplifies sample collection and improves the reliability of the ionization
The rigid spherical sampler probes simplify the manipulations during sample collection and ionization, providing a convenient analytical strategy for rapid screening of small molecules in complex biological matrices, such as sebum or blood
Summary
Ambient ionization mass spectrometry has recently become one of the most promising analytical instruments in medical practice [1]. Tandem mass spectrometry was used to confirm the structures of analyzed therapeutic drugs, and the analytical performance of the method, exploiting the sampler probe with spherical shape, was carried out in MS/MS mode, monitoring the following transitions in positive mode: m/z 198®140 for caffeine-trimethyl-13C3; m/z 156®114 for acetaminophen-d4 (internal standards); m/z 296®278 for diclofenac; m/z 340®202 for papaverine; m/z 152®110 for acetaminophen, and, in negative mode: m/z 208®164 for ibuprofen-d3 (internal standard); m/z 205®161 for ibuprofen; and m/z 294®250 for diclofenac (Figure 6, Figures S4 and S5, and Table S1 in Supplementary Materials) Under these conditions, distinct peaks persisting for most of the duration of the experiment were observed in the extracted ion chronograms (EIC) of fragment ions. Since the solvent is added on the sampler manually by the operator, minor changes in the geometry of the Taylor cone and the jet of droplets are inevitable in this design
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