Boosting the Detection Potential of Liquid Chromatography-Electron Ionization Mass Spectrometry Using a Ceramic Coated Ion Source

Laura Magrini; Giorgio Famiglini; Pierangela Palma; Veronica Termopoli; Achille Cappiello

doi:10.1007/s13361-015-1257-0

Boosting the Detection Potential of Liquid Chromatography-Electron Ionization Mass Spectrometry Using a Ceramic Coated Ion Source

J Am Soc Mass Spectrom. 2016 Jan;27(1):153-60. doi: 10.1007/s13361-015-1257-0. Epub 2015 Sep 8.

Authors

Laura Magrini¹, Giorgio Famiglini¹, Pierangela Palma¹, Veronica Termopoli¹, Achille Cappiello²

Affiliations

¹ Department STeVA, LC-MS Laboratory, University of Urbino Carlo Bo, 61029, Urbino, Italy.
² Department STeVA, LC-MS Laboratory, University of Urbino Carlo Bo, 61029, Urbino, Italy. achille.cappiello@uniurb.it.

PMID: 26350384
DOI: 10.1007/s13361-015-1257-0

Abstract

Detection of target and non-target substances and their characterization in complex samples is a challenging task. Here we demonstrate that coating the electron ionization (EI) ion source of an LC-MS system with a sol-gel ceramic film can drastically improve the detection of high-molecular weight and high-boiling analytes. A new ion source coated with a ceramic material was developed and tested with a mixture of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) with an increasing number of rings. Comparison of the results obtained with those for an uncoated stainless steel (SS) ion source shows a dramatic improvement in the MS signals, with a nearly 40-fold increase of the signal-to-noise ratio. We also demonstrate the ability of the new system to produce excellent chromatographic profiles for hard-to-detect hormones.

Keywords: Ceramic coating; EI; Electron ionization; Hormones; Inert surface; Ion source; LC-MS; Mass spectrometry; PAH; Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons; Sterols.