Development of a method for the analysis of underivatized amino acids by liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry: application on Standard Reference Material 1649a (urban dust).
A liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry analytical procedure has been developed for the detection and quantitative determination of underivatized amino acids at low concentrations in a Standard Reference Material-urban dust. In order to minimize interferences of other compounds, an accelerated solvent extraction followed by a solid phase extraction on two different cartridges was applied prior to LC-MS-MS. Fourteen amino acids were separated by high resolution liquid chromatography, detected and quantified by multiple reaction monitoring on a triple quadrupole. The proposed methodology has been applied for the first time on Standard Reference Material 1649a (urban dust) from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, that does not report certification values for these compounds. This methodology avoids the derivatization step and allows the amino acid quantification in a complex matrix, such as that of atmospheric particulate matter, and represent a good method suitable to analyze this class of compounds in atmospheric aerosol. The selected strategy demonstrated to be fit-for-purpose, by applying it to a real atmospheric sample with the aim to verify the efficacy of the study and to provide information about the organic matter content.
Department of Chemistry, University of Rome "Sapienza", P.le Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy. Electronic address: francesca.buiarelli@uniroma1.it.
Francesca
F
Buiarelli
Valentina
V
Gallo
Patrizia
P
Di Filippo
Donatella
D
Pomata
Carmela
C
Riccardi
D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D000596:Amino Acids / Q000032:analysis*; D002138:Calibration; D002853:Chromatography, Liquid / Q000379:methods*; D002947:Cities; D004391:Dust / Q000032:analysis*; D007558:Italy; D057230:Limit of Detection; D052638:Particulate Matter / Q000737:chemistry*; D012015:Reference Standards; D052616:Solid Phase Extraction; D053719:Tandem Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*
D000393:Air Pollutants; D000596:Amino Acids; D004391:Dust; D052638:Particulate Matter
Atmospheric amino acids; Liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry; Method development; Standard Reference Material 1649a; Underivatized amino acid detection