Rapid screening of active ingredients in drugs by mass spectrometry with low-temperature plasma probe.
A high-throughput method for rapid screening of active ingredients in drugs has been developed with mass spectrometry coupled to a low-temperature plasma (LTP) probe ion source. Without sample preparation or pretreatment, the active ingredients of 11 types of commercial pharmaceuticals, including hormones, antipyretic analgesics, cardiovascular, digestant, neuro-psychotherapeutic, diuretic, antithyroid, sulfa anti-inflammatory, antiparastic, sedative-hypnotics, and antibacterial, were directly desorbed/ionized and detected by a linear ion trap mass spectrometry (MS). The structures of these ingredients were elucidated by tandem MS. The analysis of 18 methyltestosterone tablets could be accomplished within 1.9 min, which allows fast detection with a speed of approximate 600 samples within 1 h. This work demonstrated that LTP probe ion source combined with MS is a high-throughput method for screening of pharmaceuticals and potentially applied to on-line quality control in pharmaceutical industry.
Liu
Yueying
Y
Department of Chemistry, Key Laboratory for Atomic and Molecular Nanosciences of Education Ministry, Tsinghua University, 100084, Beijing, China.
Lin
Ziqing
Z
Zhang
Sichun
S
Yang
Chengdui
C
Zhang
Xinrong
X
D003080:Cold Temperature; D004867:Equipment Design; D013058:Mass Spectrometry / Q000191:economics / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D015394:Molecular Structure; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations / Q000032:analysis*; D013997:Time Factors
D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations