title: Studies of signal suppression in liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization mass spectrometry using volatile ion-pairing reagents.
abstract: Volatile ion-pairing reagents are useful due to their compatibility with liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization (ESI) mass spectrometry. In this study trifluoroacetic acid, heptafluorobutanoic acid and perfluoroheptanoic acid were used as ion-pairing reagents. The signal intensities of eight amine analytes were measured in the presence of these fluorinated carboxylic acids and compared with the signal intensity when using an ion-pair free formic acid-ammonium formate buffer. It was shown that the ESI signal from most of the studied analytes decreased about 30-80% when the fluorinated carboxylic acids were added to the mobile phase at useful concentrations. The use of these acids in ion-pair chromatography was also compared to the more conventional sodium heptane sulphonate additive. It was found that the chromatographic performance was comparable. Finally, the long-term performance of the ESI interface and the chemical background caused by these fluorinated reagents were examined. No degradation of the ESI interface performance could be seen for over 24 h of continuous infusion.
authors.affiliation: Department of Organic Chemistry, Institute of Chemistry, Uppsala University, Sweden.
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Gustavsson
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Samskog
authors.forename: K E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Markides
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Långström
mesh_terms: D000588:Amines / Q000032:analysis; D002853:Chromatography, Liquid / Q000379:methods*; D007477:Ions; D021241:Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization / Q000379:methods*; D014835:Volatilization
chemical_list: D000588:Amines; D007477:Ions