Reaction mechanism and fragment ion structure determination of deprotonated small oligosaccharides, studied by negative ion fast atom bombardment (tandem) mass spectrometry

The negative ion mass spectrometric characteristics of a series of di- and trisaccharides and the tetrasaccharide stachyose have been studied using fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry. The molecular weight of the compounds can easily be derived from their mass spectra, which all show an abundant [M - H]- ion peak. The application of metastable ion and collisional activation techniques to selected pseudomolecular and fragment ions appears to be appropriate for the determination of the position and anomeric type of linkage in the molecules, and provides information concerning the monosaccharide units involved. Important fragmentation reactions have been traced and reaction mechanisms, supported by deuterium labelling experiments, are proposed. An experiment describing the application of the findings of this study to a glycosphingolipid molecule demonstrates its potential value for biological systems.     

Mass-analysed ion kinetic energy spectra and B1E-B2 triple sector mass spectrometric analysis of phosphoinositides by fast atom bombardment

Fast atom bombardment is shown to produce useful spectra of the three phosphoinositides and the metabolically related phospholipids, lysophosphatidylinositol and phosphatidic acid. Analysis of the [M-H]- ions for fatty ester composition by mass-analysed ion kinetic energy spectra (MIKES) is shown to be inadequate to resolve fatty acyl daughter ions when the parent ion contains isobaric species. However, analysis on a triple sector instrument with and without collisional activation does provide complete compositional information. Quantitative analysis of the fatty ester content of each lipid molecular species is complicated by dissimilar ion yields from fatty acyl-bearing fragments from compositionally different parent ions.     

Determination of phospholipid base structure by CA MIKES mass spectrometry

The fast atom bombardment spectra of three phospholipids containing a secondary, tertiary, and quaternary nitrogenous base attached to a 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphate skeleton were shown to each contain an ion derived from the intact nitrogenous base. The collisional activation mass analyzed ion kinetic energy spectroscopy (CA MIKES) spectrum produced from each of these ions was shown to be unique for the particular base. The technique thus provides a non-destructive rapid identification of the phosphorylated base of phospholipids.     

Electron transfer dissociation of iTRAQ labeled peptide ions

Triply and doubly charged iTRAQ ( isobaric tagging for relative and absolute quantitation) labeled peptide cations from a tryptic peptide mixture of bovine carbonic anhydrase II were subjected to electron transfer ion/ion reactions to investigate the effect of charge bearing modifications associated with iTRAQ on the fragmentation pattern. It was noted that electron transfer dissociation (ETD) of triply charged or activated ETD (ETD and supplemental collisional activation of intact electron transfer species) of doubly charged iTRAQ tagged peptide ions yielded extensive sequence information, in analogy with ETD of unmodified peptide ions. That is, addition of the fixed charge iTRAQ tag showed relatively little deleterious effect on the ETD performance of the modified peptides. ETD of the triply charged iTRAQ labeled peptide ions followed by collision-induced dissociation (CID) of the product ion at m/ z 162 yielded the reporter ion at m/ z 116, which is the reporter ion used for quantitation via CID of the same precursor ions. The reporter ion formed via the two-step activation process is expected to provide quantitative information similar to that directly produced from CID. A 103 Da neutral loss species observed in the ETD spectra of all the triply and doubly charged iTRAQ labeled peptide ions is unique to the 116 Da iTRAQ reagent, which implies that this process also has potential for quantitation of peptides/proteins. Therefore, ETD with or without supplemental collisional activation, depending on the precursor ion charge state, has the potential to directly identify and quantify the peptides/proteins simultaneously using existing iTRAQ reagents.     

Characterization of cisplatin adducts of oligonucleotides by fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry

The products of the reaction of the antitumor drug cisplatin (cis-diamminedichloroplatinum(II)) with four oligonucleotide tetramers, d(GpCpGpC), d(GpGpCpC), d(TpGpApT), and d(TpGpCpT), were separated by gel permeation chromatography and characterized by negative- and positive-ion fast atom bombardment (FAB) mass spectrometry. Fragment ions indicating the oligonucleotide sequence and the position of cisplatin binding were observed in MS/MS spectra following collisional activation and B/E-linked scanning. Positive-ion FAB MS/MS spectra were characterized by platinum-containing product ions. Nonplatinated sequence ions and internal fragment ions were present primarily in the negative-ion spectra. The most prominent fragment ions containing platinum were [HB2.Pt.B3H]+ and [HB1.Pt.B2H]+, where B1, B2, and B3 were bases in the oligonucleotide tetramer, one of which was usually guanine. Both singly and doubly charged platinum complexes were observed, probably indicating reduction of Pt(II) during the FAB ionization process. The location of the platinum complex bound to each oligonucleotide sequence could be determined, and the binding sites observed by mass spectrometry were similar to those previously determined by other methods. FAB ionization with collisional activation and MS/MS analysis could serve as a new method for structural analysis of platinated oligonucleotides.     

Determination of naphthodianthrones in plant extracts from Hypericum perforatum L. by liquid chromatography–electrospray mass spectrometry

The determination of the naphthodianthrone constituents in extracts of dried blossoms of Hypericum perforatum L. by combined HPLC–electrospray mass spectrometry is described. Hypericin (1), pseudohypericin (2) and their precursor compounds produce intensive negative quasi-molecular ions by deprotonation provided a non-acidic eluent system is used in the HPLC separation. From the [M–H]⁻ ions formed in the electrospray ionization process characteristic daughter ion spectra can be obtained by collisional activation which have been studied by tandem mass spectrometry.     

Oligosaccharide sequence determination using B/E linked field scanning or tandem mass spectrometry of phosphatidylethanolamine derivatives

Product ion mass spectral data of [M + H]+ ions of oligosaccharides, mainly tetra- and pentasaccharides, as their dipalmitoyl phosphatidylethanolamine derivatives were obtained using both liquid secondary ion mass spectrometry with B/E linked scanning and fast atom bombardment ionization with collision-induced dissociation/tandem mass spectrometry. Both methods give similar positive product ion spectra of equivalent high sensitivity (detection limits of approximately 50 pmol) that principally contain glycosidic cleavage ions retaining the reducing end of the molecule from which monosaccharide sequence can be deduced. A series of ions from fission of the phosphate ester bond together with glycosidic cleavage are present in the tandem mass spectra and B/E linked scan spectra when helium collision gas is used. Monosaccharide linkage position of isomeric molecules is reflected in the intensity of glycosidic fragmentation, without retention of the oxygen atom, with decreasing cleavage in the order 1-3 greater than 1-4 greater than 1-6 linkage. Fucose and N-acetylhexosamines show an increased degree of fragmentation over hexose sugars. The application of product ion spectra of derivatized oligosaccharides is demonstrated for characterizing mixed samples and also the acquisition of spectra directly from the silica surface of high-performance thin-layer chromatography plates.     

Fast atom bombardment combined with tandem mass spectrometry for the study of dinucleotides

A study of mono- and dinucleotides by utilizing negative ion fast atom bombardment (FAB), metastable decomposition of (M-H)- species, and collisionally activated decomposition (CAD) of (M-H)- species is reported. Data were obtained for several complete series containing the standard nucleosides (guanosine, adenosine, cytidine, thymidine, and uridine): the 3'- and 5'-monophosphate mononucleotide series for both ribo- and 2'-deoxyribomononucleotides, all possible combinations for the 3'(-)----5'-ribodinucleotides, and all possible combinations of the 3'(-)----5',2'-deoxyribodinucleotides. The metastable and CAD spectra provide more information than the FAB mass spectra. The (M-H)- ions of all dinucleotides decompose either as metastable ions or upon collisional activation to eliminate BH (B = base) preferentially from the 3'- rather than the 5'-terminus. Isomeric dinucleotides can be distinguished on the basis of this fragmentation. To establish the identity of the base at the 5'-terminus, collisional activation is preferred. By comparing relative abundances of BH elimination observed, the inherent basicities of the nucleoside base anions can be inferred to be C- greater than A-, T-, greater than G-.     

Positional identification of fluorine in methyl per-O-acetyl-x-deoxy-x-fluoro-alpha-D-hexopyranosides by electron impact and chemical ionisation mass spectrometry.

Fully acetylated methyl x-deoxy-x-fluoro-alpha-D-glucopyranosides have been studied using electron impact and ammonia chemical ionisation mass spectrometry. Mass analysed metastable ion kinetic energy spectroscopy (MIKE), collisional activation (CID), and accelerated voltage scanning have been used to evaluate complete fragmentation schemes. Characteristic differences in the fragmentation of positional isomers were noted on analysis of the spectra, and these make it possible to determine the location of fluorine in the molecules studied. Collisionally activated fragmentation of [M-OCH3]+ ions, produced by electron impact, provides an alternative method for localisation of the fluorine atoms. To the contrary, MIKE and CID spectra of [M + NH4]+ cluster ions produced by chemical ionisation did not afford such structural information.     

Non-reducing terminal linkage position determination in intact and permethylated synthetic oligosaccharides having a penultimate amino sugar: fast atom bombardment ionization, collisional-induced dissociation and tandem mass spectrometry.

Certain linkage positions in oligosaccharides can be discerned by collision-activated dissociation mass spectrometry, rationalized by molecular modelling. Previous work on synthetic oligosaccharides has suggested that daughter ion patterns can distinguish among intact compounds which terminate in alpha-L-fucose and have a penultimate amino sugar. The current study indicates that these observations can be extended to oligosaccharides terminating in beta-D-galactose. In addition, we have observed that protonated, ammoniated and lithiated molecular ions all produce linkage-specific daughter ion spectra in these two sets of oligosaccharides. Sodiated molecular ions could be fragmented usefully under high collision energy offset conditions; potassiated ions were stable and not dissociable under conditions available in a triple-quadrupole instrument. We also show linkage discernment among the permethylated set of these six synthetic oligosaccharides. Methylated derivatives of this set of compounds give more useful product ions, including a 3-linkage specific ion. A novel relationship was noted by a plot of collision energy against (daughter ion/parent ion) ratio, which gave a unique slope for each of the non-reducing terminal linkage positions 3, 4 and 6 in the set of six compounds. The slope of this plot is related to the ability of each linkage position in the oligosaccharide to absorb collisional energy. Rotational freedom of the individual glycosidic linkage is hypothesized to play a role in this phenomenon.     

Analysis of steroidal estrogens as pyridine-3-sulfonyl derivatives by liquid chromatography electrospray tandem mass spectrometry

Sulfonyl chlorides substituted with functional groups having high proton affinity can serve as derivatization reagents to enhance the sensitivity for steroidal estrogens in liquid chromatography electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS/MS). The most commonly used reagent for derivatization of estrogens for LC-ESI-MS/MS is dansyl chloride. In this study, we compared dansyl chloride, 1,2-dimethylimidazole-4-sulfonyl (DMIS) chloride, pyridine-3-sulfonyl (PS) chloride, and 4-(1H-pyrazol-1-yl)benzenesulfonyl (PBS) chloride for derivatization of 17beta-estradiol (E2) prior to LC-ESI-MS/MS. The product ion spectra of the dansyl and DMIS derivatives were dominated by ions representing derivatization reagent moieties. In contrast, the product ion spectrum of the PS derivative of E2 and, to a lesser extent, the PBS derivative, showed analyte-specific fragment ions. Derivatization with PS chloride was therefore chosen for further investigation. The product ion spectrum of the PS derivative of E2 showed intense ions at m/z 272, assigned to the radical E2 cation, and at m/z 350, attributed to the loss of SO(2) from the [M+H](+) ion. Third-stage mass spectrometry of the PS derivative of E2 with isolation and collisional activation of the m/z 272 ion resulted in steroid C and D ring cleavages analogous to those observed in electron ionization mass spectrometry. The product ion spectra of the PS derivatives of estrone, 17alpha-ethinylestradiol, equilin, and equilenin showed similar estrogen-specific ions. Using derivatization with PS chloride, we developed an LC-ESI-MS/MS method with multiple reaction monitoring of primary and confirmatory precursor-to-product ion transitions for the determination of E2 in serum.     

Development of high throughput dispersive LC-ion mobility-TOFMS techniques for analysing the human plasma proteome.

A technique that combines ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) with reversed-phase liquid chromatography (LC), collision-induced dissociation (CID) and mass spectrometry (MS) has been developed. The approach is described as a high throughput means of analysing complex mixtures of peptides that arise from enzymatic digestion of protein mixtures. In this approach, peptides are separated by LC and, as they elute from the column, they are introduced into the gas phase and ionised by electrospray ionisation. The beam of ions is accumulated in an ion trap and then the concentrated ion packet is injected into a drift tube where the ions are separated again in the gas phase by IMS, a technique that differentiates ions based on their mobilities through a buffer gas. As ions exit the drift tube, they can be subjected to collisional activation to produce fragments prior to being introduced into a mass spectrometer for detection. The IMS separation can be carried out in only a few milliseconds and offers a number of advantages compared with LC-MS alone. An example of a single 21-minute LC-IMS-(CID)-MS analysis of the human plasma proteome reveals approximately 20,000 parent ions and approximately 600,000 fragment ions and evidence for 227 unique protein assignments.     

Dissociations of disulfide-linked gaseous polypeptide/protein anions: ion chemistry with implications for protein identification and characterization

Ion trap collisional activation of whole protein anions that contain disulfide bonds results in the cleavage of one of the bonds that comprises the disulfide linkage. The disulfide linkage can break at any of three possible locations, giving rise to several products with different partitioning of sulfur atoms. A facile second-generation dissociation occurs at the polypeptide backbone from products formed from cleavage of the nearest C-S bond of a disulfide linkage. This cleavage occurs exclusively at the N-terminal side of the cysteine residue, from which the C-S bond was cleaved, thereby yielding c and z-S type product ions. This secondary reaction is apparently a relatively low-energy reaction with relatively high entropy requirements because it is not observed to be a major process under beam-type collisional activation conditions, but is a major process under ion trap collisional activation conditions. The specificity of this cleavage, as well as the ability to distinguish it from other cleavages by the sulfur atom distribution, make it useful for the identification of unknown proteins via database searching. Furthermore, the pattern of disulfide cleavages can be useful in providing information about the location of post-translational modifications. Examples using bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor and ribonuclease A and B are given to illustrate these points.     

Activation of chicken liver fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase by oxidized glutathione

Treatment of chicken liver fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase with oxidized glutathione (GSSG) leads to an increase in activity. This activation is markedly enhanced if treatment is performed in the presence of AMP or Mn²⁺. The effects of AMP and Mn²⁺ appear to be synergistic. The maximal activation is over 13-fold and is accompanied by the disappearance of 4 sulfhydryl groups per molecule of enzyme. Both fructose 1,6-bisphosphate and fructose 2,6-bisphosphate can largely prevent this activation. Activation can be reversed by dithiothreitol or cysteine. It appears that GSSG activates this enzyme by thiol/disulfide exchanges with the enzyme's specific sulfhydryl groups.     

Electrospray mass spectrometry of human hair wax esters

Wax esters extracted from human hair have been examined by capillary GC-MS and by nano electrospray ionization (ESI) mass spectrometry using a tandem quadrupole mass spectrometer. Initially, the wax esters were examined by capillary GC-MS using conventional means, thus revealing an incomplete chromatographic resolution of the complex array of >200 wax esters ranging from 28 to 40 carbons in length, including saturated/straight-chained, unsaturated/straight-chained, saturated/branched, and unsaturated/branched molecular species. ESI of wax esters produced ammonium adduct ions [M+NH4]+, and collisional activation of these ions formed abundant [RCO2H2]+ product ions. Wax esters containing a double bond in the fatty acyl or fatty alcohol portion of the molecule revealed identical behavior, suggesting little influence of the double bond on the ionization process or subsequent decomposition. The wax ester mixture was analyzed by ESI and tandem mass spectrometry using multiple reaction monitoring and neutral loss scanning. The neutral loss experiment [loss of NH3 and CH2=CH-(CH2)nCH3] was particularly effective at rapidly surveying the complex biological mixture, identifying>160 different wax esters that range from 24 to 42 total carbons.     

Analysis of cell membrane aminophospholipids as isotope-tagged derivatives

Glycerophosphoethanolamine (GPEtn) and glycerophosphoserine (GPSer) lipids were reacted with a multiplexed set of differentially isotopically enriched N-methylpiperazine acetic acid N-hydroxysuccinimide ester reagents, which place isobaric mass labels at a primary amino group. The resulting derivatized aminophospholipids were isobaric and chromatographically indistinguishable but yielded positive reporter ions (m/z 114 or 117) after collisional activation that could be used to identify and quantify individual members of the multiplex set. The chromatographic and mass spectrometric response of N-methylpiperazine amide-tagged aminophospholipids was probed using glycerophosphoethanolamine and glycerophosphoserine lipid standards. The [M+H]+ of each tagged aminophospholipid shifted 144 Da, and during collision-induced dissociation the major fragmentation ion was either m/z 114 or 117. This mode of detecting aminophospholipids was useful for an unbiased analysis of plasmalogen GPEtn lipids. Molecular species information on the esterified fatty acyl substituents was obtained by collisional activation of the [M-H]- ions. The isotope-tagged reagents were used to assess changes in the distribution of GPEtn lipids after exposure of liposomes made from phospholipids extracted from RAW 264.7 cells to Cu2+/H2O2 to illustrate the ability of these reagents to aid in the mass spectrometric identification of aminophospholipid changes that occur during biological stimuli.     

Collisionally activated dissociation and infrared multiphoton dissociation of oligonucleotides in a quadrupole ion trap

Infrared multiphoton dissociation (IRMPD) of deprotonated and protonated oligonucleotides ranging from 5 to 40 residues has been performed in a quadrupole ion trap mass spectrometer at normal operating pressure and temperature. Only moderate exposure times and laser powers were required to achieve efficient dissociation. In general, IRMPD and collisionally activated dissociation (CAD) produce comparable sequencing information, indicating that IRMPD is a viable alternative to CAD for oligonucleotide analysis in the quadrupole ion trap. Two major characteristics distinguish CAD and IRMPD spectra for a given parent ion. First, structurally uninformative M-B ions that dominate CAD spectra are generally only low-intensity species in IRMPD spectra because nonresonant activation causes these species to dissociate to backbone cleavage products. Second, phosphate and nucleobase ions can be observed directly in IRMPD experiments because the low-mass cutoff can be set to trap small fragment ions. For this reason IRMPD can sometimes facilitate analysis of sequences containing modified bases.     

Possibility of X-ray spectral diagnostics of a plasma in the tracks of fast multicharged ions

A plasma model of the relaxation of a medium within the tracks of heavy ions in condensed matter is proposed that is based on solving time-dependent radiative collisional kinetic equations with the initial condition corresponding to a medium’s state described by the classical model of multiple ionization of the target atoms by the field of fast multicharged ions. It is shown that the plasma model allows one to describe X-ray spectra recorded in the interaction of ion beams with condensed targets. An X-ray spectral method for plasma diagnostics is proposed that is based on the plasma model. The results obtained can also be used to study the initial stage of the formation of defects in solid bodies under the action of individual fast heavy ions.     

An iron-containing superoxide dismutase from Anacystis nidulans.

Superoxide dismutase (SOD) was isolated and purified from Anacystis nidulans to near electrophoretic homogeneity. The enzyme has a molecular weight of 37,500, as determined by gel filtration and SDS-gel electrophoresis. The enzyme molecule consists of two subunits of identical molecular weight. Proton-induced X-ray elemental analysis (PIXE) showed that the SOD of A. nidulans is an iron-containing enzyme; the Fe:enzyme mol ratio was found to be 1. The EPR spectra indicated that the active center contains high-spin ferric ion. Based on quantitative EPR data, we conclude that eseentially all iron ions were detected in the EPR experiments and were present in the Fe3+ active center. Effective g'-values were calculated from computer-simulated spectra and analysis of the g'-value anisotropy of the +/-3/2 Kramers doublet made the calculation of crystal field parameters possible. The symmetry of the Fe3+ ion in the SOD molecule was found to be close to rhombic (E/D=0.240).     

Fast atom bombardment and collisional activation mass spectrometry of retinyl phosphate mannose synthesized by liver membranes

Fast atom bombardment (FAB) and collisional activation dissociation (CAD) mass-analysed ion kinetic energy (MIKE) spectra have confirmed the structures of retinyl phosphate (Ret-P), retinyl phosphate mannose (Ret-P-Man) and guanosine 5'-diphospho-D-mannose (GDP-Man). Ret-P-Man was made in vitro while Ret-P and GDP-Man were chemically synthesized. Positive ion FAB mass spectrometry of Ret-P showed an observable short-lived spectrum with a mass ion at m/z 367 [M + H]+, and a major fragment ion at m/z 269 [M + H - H3PO4]+. Negative ion FAB mass spectrometry of Ret-P showed a strong stable spectrum with a parent ion at m/z 365 [M - H]-, a glycerol (G) adduct ion at m/z 457 [M - H + G]- and a dimer ion at m/z 731 [2M - H]-. GDP-Man showed an intense spectrum with parent ion at m/z 604 [M - H]- and cationized species at m/z 626 [M + Na - 2H]- and 648 [M + 2Na - 3H]-. Negative ion FAB mass spectrometry of Ret-P-Man showed a parent ion at m/z 527 [M - H]- and a fragment ion at m/z 259 [C6H12PO9]-. The CAD-MIKE spectra showed structurally significant fragment ions at m/z 442 and 361 for the [M - H]- ion of GDP-Man, and at m/z 509, 406, 364 and 241 for the [M - H]- ion of Ret-P-Man. FAB and CAD-MIKE spectra have been applied successfully to confirm the structure of Ret-P-Man made in vitro from Ret-P and GDP-Man.