title: Differential ionisation of natural antioxidant polyenes in electrospray and nanospray mass spectrometry.
abstract: Carotenoids are natural products with high economic relevance for the pharmaceutical industries and are a common subject for biochemical research. Reported here is a comparative study of the ionisation of carotenoids by electrospray mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) and nanospray mass spectrometry (nanoESI-MS). The results demonstrate that, along with solvent choice, the influence of the different ionisation processes of ESI and nanoESI are fundamental in determining how ionisation is achieved and which ions (molecular ion or protonated molecule) are observed in MS. The increased understanding afforded by this study will help in the development of unequivocal microanalytical methods for carotenoids and related antioxidant polyenes.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Bioquímica, Instituto de Química, Universidade de São Paulo, Av Professor Lineu Prestes, 748 CP 20780, CEP 05508900, São Paulo-SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Thais
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Guaratini
authors.forename: Paul J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Gates
authors.forename: Ernani
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pinto
authors.forename: Pio
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Colepicolo
authors.forename: Norberto P
authors.initials: NP
authors.lastname: Lopes
mesh_terms: D000975:Antioxidants / Q000032:analysis*; D001685:Biological Factors / Q000032:analysis*; D044085:Microfluidics / Q000379:methods*; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D011090:Polyenes / Q000032:analysis*; D021241:Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D000975:Antioxidants; D001685:Biological Factors; D011090:Polyenes