Enzymatic Assays Coupled with Mass Spectrometry with or without Embedded Liquid Chromatography

Abstract

This article reviews monitoring strategies for enzymatic assays coupled with mass spectrometric detection. This coupling has already been shown to be helpful in providing versatile and detailed knowledge about enzyme kinetics. Various available publications address two general approaches. 1) The continuous-flow setup allows real-time determination of substrate degradation. Simultaneously, resulting product or potential intermediates can be detected. 2) The online coupled continuous-flow mixing assay allows the direct coupling of an enzymatic assay to chromatographic separation of complex mixtures. The latest efforts in improving the methodology have been made with regard to miniaturization. This is especially advantageous with regard to reducing costly consumption of chemicals. Finally, these developments are applicable for diverse bioanalytical purposes in the realms of pharmaceutical, biotechnological, food, and environmental research.

Keywords: continuous-flow assays; enzymes; functional proteomics; mass spectrometry; metabolomics.