Isotopic analyses of plant samples are now of considerable importance for food certification and plant physiology. In fact, the natural nitrogen isotope composition (δ15N) is extremely useful to examine metabolic pathways of N nutrition involving isotope fractionations. However, δ15N analysis of amino acids is not straightforward and involves specific derivatization procedures to yield volatile derivatives that can be analysed by gas chromatography coupled to isotope ratio mass spectrometry (GC-C-IRMS). Derivatizations other than trimethylsilylation are commonly used since they are believed to be more reliable and accurate. Their major drawback is that they are not associated with metabolite databases allowing identification of derivatives and by-products. Here, we revisit the potential of trimethylsilylated derivatives via concurrent analysis of δ15N and exact mass GC-MS of plant seed protein samples, allowing facile identification of derivatives using a database used for metabolomics. When multiple silylated derivatives of several amino acids are accounted for, there is a good agreement between theoretical and observed N mole fractions, and δ15N values are satisfactory, with little fractionation during derivatization. Overall, this technique may be suitable for compound-specific δ15N analysis, with pros and cons.
Keywords: exact mass spectrometry; gas chromatography; natural abundance; nitrogen-15; silylation; stable isotopes.