title: Identification of monoacylglycerol regio-isomers by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.
abstract: Monoacylglycerols (MAGs) are lipids found in trace amounts in plants and animal tissues. While they are widely used in various industrial applications, accurate determination of the regio-specific distribution is hindered by the lack of stable, commercially available standards. Indeed, unsaturated beta-MAG (or Sn-2 MAG) readily undergoes isomerization into alpha-MAG (acyl chain is attached to the Sn-1 or the Sn-3 position). In the present study, we describe structural elucidation of alpha- and beta-regio-isomers of monopalmitoyl-glycerol (MAG C16:0) as model compounds in their silylated forms using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) with electronic impact (EI) ionization. MS fragmentation of alpha-MAG C16:0 is characterized by the loss of methylene(trimethylsilyl)oxonium (103 amu) and the consecutive loss of acyl chain yielding a fragment ion at m/z 205. The fragmentation pattern of beta-MAG C16:0 shows a series of diagnostic fragments at m/z 218, 203, 191 and 103 that are not formed from the alpha-isomer and hereby enable reliable distinction of these regio-isomers. Possible fragmentation scenarios are postulated to explain the formation of these marker ions, which were also applied to characterize the regio-isomer composition of a complex mixture of MAG sample containing n-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids.
authors.affiliation: Nestlé Research Center, Bioanalytical Science, Vers-chez-les-Blanc, P.O. Box 44, CH-1000 Lausanne 26, Switzerland. frederic.destaillats@rdls.nestle.com
authors.forename: Frédéric
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Destaillats
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cruz-Hernandez
authors.forename: Kornél
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nagy
authors.forename: Fabiola
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Dionisi
mesh_terms: D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*; D050178:Monoglycerides / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry*; D021241:Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization; D013237:Stereoisomerism
chemical_list: D050178:Monoglycerides