title: A novel approach for sensitivity enhancement in atmospheric pressure chemical ionisation liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry of chlorophylls.
abstract: Differences in the ionisation efficiency of chlorophylls and their phaeophytin counterparts result in lower sensitivity for atmospheric pressure chemical ionisation mass spectrometric detection of the former. Improvement in the sensitivity of detection of chlorophyll of around an order of magnitude at a concentration of 1 x 10(-6)mol L(-1) has been achieved using post-column addition of methanoic acid during analysis by liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS). The method gives linear response and is a simple strategy to improve sensitivity both for LC/MS and LC/MS/MS without loss of information relating to the precise nature of the tetrapyrrole distributions. Detection levels achieved exceed those obtained by absorbance detection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, UK.
authors.forename: R L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Airs
authors.forename: B J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Keely
mesh_terms: D002734:Chlorophyll / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D000077194:Chlorophyll A; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D002853:Chromatography, Liquid / Q000379:methods*; D013058:Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*; D015394:Molecular Structure; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000737:chemistry; D018724:Spinacia oleracea / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: C406457:phaeophytin a; D002734:Chlorophyll; D000077194:Chlorophyll A