title: Prediction of retention time in reversed-phase liquid chromatography as a tool for steroid identification.
abstract: The untargeted profiling of steroids constitutes a growing research field because of their importance as biomarkers of endocrine disruption. New technologies in analytical chemistry, such as ultra high-pressure liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (MS), offer the possibility of a fast and sensitive analysis. Nevertheless, difficulties regarding steroid identification are encountered when considering isotopomeric steroids. Thus, the use of retention times is of great help for the unambiguous identification of steroids. In this context, starting from the linear solvent strength (LSS) theory, quantitative structure retention relationship (QSRR) models, based on a dataset composed of 91 endogenous steroids and VolSurf + descriptors combined with a new dedicated molecular fingerprint, were developed to predict retention times of steroid structures in any gradient mode conditions. Satisfactory performance was obtained during nested cross-validation with a predictive ability (Q(2)) of 0.92. The generalisation ability of the model was further confirmed by an average error of 4.4% in external prediction. This allowed the list of candidates associated with identical monoisotopic masses to be strongly reduced, facilitating definitive steroid identification.
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Geneva and University of Lausanne, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Giuseppe Marco
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Randazzo
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Geneva and University of Lausanne, Geneva, Switzerland; Swiss Centre for Applied Human Toxicology (SCAHT), Universities of Basel and Geneva, Basel, Switzerland; Human Protein Sciences Department, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Tonoli
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Geneva and University of Lausanne, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Stephanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hambye
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Geneva and University of Lausanne, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Davy
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Guillarme
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Geneva and University of Lausanne, Geneva, Switzerland; Swiss Centre for Applied Human Toxicology (SCAHT), Universities of Basel and Geneva, Basel, Switzerland; Human Protein Sciences Department, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Fabienne
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Jeanneret
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Geneva and University of Lausanne, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Alessandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nurisso
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Biology and Biotechnology, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Goracci
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Geneva and University of Lausanne, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Julien
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Boccard
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Geneva and University of Lausanne, Geneva, Switzerland; Swiss Centre for Applied Human Toxicology (SCAHT), Universities of Basel and Geneva, Basel, Switzerland. Electronic address: serge.rudaz@unige.ch.
authors.forename: Serge
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rudaz
mesh_terms: D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid / Q000379:methods*; D056148:Chromatography, Reverse-Phase / Q000379:methods*; D013058:Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*; D013256:Steroids / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D013256:Steroids
keywords: Isotopomers identification; LSS theory; Quantitative structure–retention relationships; Retention time prediction; Reversed-phase liquid chromatography; Steroids