Determination of Amines in the Presence of Excess Ammonia by Ion Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry

Abstract

A new method for the simultaneous determination of several amines in the presence of an excess of ammonia by ion chromatography-mass spectrometry detection was developed. Current methods using ion chromatography with suppressed conductivity detection are not selective enough to determine small amines at the required level of 10 µg/L or preferably lower in the presence of a large excess of ammonia (~1 mg/L) without resorting to time-consuming sample pre-treatment techniques. By using mass spectrometric detection, which is capable of resolving eluting compounds on their m/z values, an additional dimension of confirmation is added to the analysis. Detection based on the analytes m/z value overcomes problems such as co-elution or background interferences that complicate the quantification when using conductivity detection. The optimal conditions for mass spectrometry detection of amines in the presence of an excess of ammonia were investigated by a four-factor central composite design. The four factors investigated were scan time, cone voltage, probe temperature, and needle voltage. Evaluation of the obtained experimental data showed that detection limits were up to a factor of 100 lower when using mass spectrometry as the detection technique instead of the conventional suppressed conductivity detection. Detection limits of 1 µg/L and lower can be achieved for the six amines investigated in the presence of a large excess of ammonia (~1 mg/L).

Quantitative analysis of aliphatic amines in urban aerosols based on online derivatization and high performance liquid chromatography

“…This trend is largely attributed to the fact that only a limited number of effective measurements for aliphatic amines have been reported. The most widely used techniques for the determination of atmospheric amines are gas chromatography (GC), [21][22][23] liquid chromatography (LC) 18,19,24 and ion chromatography (IC), [25][26][27] combined with various detectors. Mass spectrometers (MSs) and uorescence detectors (FLDs) have been widely employed for their superior selectivity and sensitivity.…”

“…Despite the fact that derivatization is not required in the IC method, the effective separation of amines is not easy in IC systems. 26,27 Additionally, novel techniques, such as ambient pressure proton transfer mass spectrometry 29 and ambient electrospray ionization, have been attempted to analyze aliphatic amines. 30 Novel techniques are usually known as promising methods for rapid analysis, but are oen costly and require sophisticated laboratory conditions.…”

Toward enhanced hyperforin production in St. John's wort root cultures

“…Cations such as Na + , NH 4 + , K + , Mg 2+ , and Ca 2+ were analyzed as described previously with some modification . The analysis was done via an HPLC system consisting of a Dionex ICS3000 with Dionex™ ICS‐6000 CD Conductivity Detector (ThermoFisher Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA).…”

Towards a generic method for ion chromatography/mass spectrometry of low‐molecular‐weight amines in pharmaceutical drug discovery and development

“…Ion chromatography (IC) has widely been used for the analysis of amines for over four decades, [20][21][22][23][24][25][26] most frequently with conductivity detection, but amperometric detection has also been used. [27][28][29] Previous work has been reported where IC has been interfaced to MS. [30][31][32] The use of MS provided increased selectivity to overcome co-elution, and also increased sensitivity. In these systems a suppressor was used to remove additives from the mobile phase before entering the mass spectrometer; however, no make-up flow was added prior to the mass spectrometer to aid ionisation.…”