Enhanced performance in the determination of ibuprofen 1-beta-O-acyl glucuronide in urine by combining FAIMS with LC-TOFMS

An article recently published in the Journal of Chromatography A highlights the use of Owlstone’s chip based ultraFAIMS technology in conjunction with Ultra-High Performance Liquid Chromatography - High Resolution Mass Spectrometry (UHPLC-HRMS).

This technique was used to improve the qualitative and quantitative analysis of (R/S) ibuprofen 1-Β-O-acyl glucuronide (IAG) metabolite in urine. The ultraFAIMS unit was used in conjunction with an Agilent 1200 series HPLC and an Agilent 6230 time-of-flight mass spectrometer fitted with a JetStream ESI source.

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Enhanced performance in the determination of ibuprofen 1-beta-O-acyl glucuronide in urine by combining high field asymmetric waveform ion mobility spectrometry with liquid chromatography-time-of-flight mass spectrometry,
By Robert W. Smith, Danielle E. Toutoungi, James C. Reynolds, Anthony W.T. Bristow, Andrew Ray, Ashley Sage, Ian D. Wilson, Daniel J. Weston, Billy Boyle and Colin S. Creaser, Journal of Chromatography A, 2013, doi 10.1016/j.chroma.2012.12.065

Abstract: The incorporation of a chip-based high field asymmetric waveform ion mobility spectrometry (FAIMS) separation in the ultra (high)-performance liquid chromatography–high resolution mass spectrometry (UHPLC–HRMS) determination of the (R/S) ibuprofen 1-beta-O-acyl glucuronide metabolite in urine is reported. UHPLC–FAIMS–HRMS reduced matrix chemical noise, improved the limit of quantitation approximately two-fold and increased the linear dynamic range compared to the determination of the metabolite without FAIMS separation. A quantitative evaluation of the prototype UHPLC–FAIMS–HRMS system showed better reproducibility for the drug metabolite (%RSD 2.7%) at biologically relevant concentrations in urine. In-source collision induced dissociation of the FAIMS-selected deprotonated metabolite was used to fragment the ion prior to mass analysis, enhancing selectivity by removing co-eluting species and aiding the qualitative identification of the metabolite by increasing the signal-to-noise ratio of the fragment ions.