HPLC Method for Separation of Cannabidiol Hemp Seed Oil with Skin Lipids and Tandem HRMS Technology for Characterization of a Chemical Marker

Cannabidiol (CBD) hemp seed oil is a commercial raw material with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits that has been formulated into body wash and skin care products. The biggest analytical challenge is how to simultaneously quantify CBD and hemp seed oil as they deposited on the skin surface. CBD is easily separated and quantified from skin surface extracts via a HPLC-mass spectrometry methodology. However, the structural skeleton of triacylglycerides (TAGs) in hemp seed oil is same as those from the skin surface sebum. The strong hydrophobicity with subtle structural difference challenges their separation. In this project, a new reverse phase HPLC-high resolution mass spectrometry methodology was developed with a strong mobile phase normal propanol. The separated hemp seed oil TAGs in the chromatogram were identified and characterized using data-dependent acquisition (DDA) technology. Based on the daughter ion characterization, the separated peak with an ammonium adduct at 890.7226 [M + NH4]+ was confirmed as the parent ion of glycerol with three omega-3 fatty acid chains. This is the first time TAG structure with direct HPLC-tandem mass spectrometry technology has been elucidated without a hydrolysis reaction. The confirmed TAG structure with an ammonium adduct at 890.7226 ± 0.0020 can be used as a representative chemical marker for the hemp seed oil quantification.

On the detection of oxidized and highly oxidized organic molecules by CHARON PTR-MS via ammonium adduct ionization

<p>Oxidized and highly oxidized organic molecules are important target analytes in atmospheric air samples. In recent years, several chemical ionization mass spectrometry (CIMS) methods have been developed for detecting these target analytes in real time and at ultra-trace levels. One of these CIMS techniques is proton-transfer-reaction mass spectrometry (PTR-MS), which, in combination with the so-called CHARON inlet, measures oxidized and highly oxidized organic molecules in the atmosphere in the gaseous and particulate state. PTR-MS typically uses hydronium ions (H<sub>3</sub>O<sup>+</sup>) as reagent ions for detecting organic analytes in their protonated form, [A+H<sup>+</sup>]. H<sub>3</sub>O<sup>+</sup> ions react with all oxidized organics at unit efficiency, meaning that PTR-MS universally detects these target analytes, with little dependency of the signal response on their oxidation state. A drawback of PTR-MS operation in the H<sub>3</sub>O<sup>+ </sup>mode is that oxidized functional groups are often ejected upon protonation.</p><p>Herein, we present the results obtained when a CHARON PTR-MS analyzer was operated with ammonium (NH<sub>4</sub><sup>+</sup>) ions as CI reagent ions. We studied the instrumental response to a set of oxidized and highly oxidized compounds including hydroxy, carboxy and peroxy functional groups. We found that fragmentation was greatly suppressed, with ammonium adducts, [A+NH<sub>4</sub>]<sup>+</sup>, being the main analyte ions formed. The ionization efficiency ranged from 10 to 80% of the collisional limit, meaning that the NH<sub>4</sub><sup>+</sup> mode is less quantitative than the H<sub>3</sub>O<sup>+</sup> mode. The performance and advantages of ammonium adduct ionization are demonstrated on two application examples: i) secondary organic aerosol generated in the laboratory from the ozonolysis of limonene, with a particular focus on the detection of peroxides and dimers, and (ii) ambient organic aerosol in Innsbruck, Austria, which was characterized at the molecular level at single digit ng m<sup>-</sup>³ mass concentrations.</p>

Observed adducts on positive mode direct analysis in real time mass spectrometry – Proton/ammonium adduct selectivities of 600-sample in-house chemical library

In this study, direct analysis in real time adduct selectivities of a 558 in-house high-resolution mass spectrometry sample library was evaluated. The protonated molecular ion ([M + H]+) was detected in 462 samples. The ammonium adduct ion ([M + NH4]+) was also detected in 262 samples. [M + H]+ and [M + NH4]+ molecular ions were observed simultaneously in 166 samples. These adduct selectivities were related to the elemental compositions of the sample compounds. [M + NH4]+ selectivity correlated with the number of oxygen atom(s), whereas [M + H]+ selectivity correlated with the number of nitrogen atom(s) in the elemental compositions. For compounds including a nitrogen atom and an oxygen atom [M + H]+ was detected; [M + NH4]+ was detected for compounds including an oxygen atom only. Density functional theory calculations were performed for selected library samples and model compounds. Energy differences were observed between compounds detected as [M + H]+ and [M + NH4]+, and between compounds including a nitrogen atom and an oxygen atom in their elemental compositions. The results suggested that the presence of oxygen atoms stabilizes [M + NH4]+, but not every oxygen atom has enough energy for detection of [M + NH4]+. It was concluded that the nitrogen atom(s) and oxygen atom(s) in the elemental compositions play important roles in the adduct formation in direct analysis in real time mass spectrometry.

A New Approach to the Analysis of Nicarbazin and Ionophores in Eggs by HPLC/MS/MS

An HPLC/MS/MS method has been developed and validated for the quantification and confirmation of nicarbazin and ionophores (lasalocid, monensin, salinomycin, and narasin) in eggs. Nicarbazin is determined in the negative electrospray mode with a basic mobile phase that supports creation of negative ions. Consequently, our ability to maintain instrument sensitivity over time has significantly improved. The analysis of the ionophores is done in the positive electrospray mode using ammonium buffer for HPLC separation. Monitoring ammonium adduct parent ions resulted in enhanced sensitivity and better reproducibility of the ionophore analysis. The validation of this improved HPLC/MS/MS method for the detection of nicarbazin and the ionophores demonstrated excellent precision of below 10 RSD and lower LOD values (g/kg) for nicarbazin (0.018), lasalocid (0.015), monensin (0.015), salinomycin (0.033), and narasin (0.039).