Development of liquid chromatography high resolution mass spectrometry strategies for the screening of complex organic matter: Application to astrophysical simulated materials

Primary Step Towards In Situ Detection of Chemical Biomarkers in the UNIVERSE via Liquid-Based Analytical System: Development of an Automated Online Trapping/Liquid Chromatography System

“…In this rationale, peptides were used as molecular targets. To overcome the lack of extra-terrestrial peptide standards, amino-acids polymers differing in terms of molecular weight and polarity were considered [33]. Oligopeptides with alanine, glycine and leucine were considered as valuable targets, since their building blocks are the main amino acids in the acid hydrolysates of meteorites, tholins and comets [22,41,42].…”

“…Stationary phases were chosen according to their relevance for peptide-like compound analysis. Alone and in series, short columns (20–150 mm) with stationary phases exhibiting different polarities were previously evaluated in gradient mode for the analysis of laboratory cometary analogues [33]. Briefly, in isocratic mode, elution on Reverse Phase C 18 Hypersil Gold aQ, with acetonitrile as the organic solvent, allowed the study of complex mixtures with high peptide retention.…”

“…Another major hurdle is the very small sample volume that can be analyzed in one run (from 1 nL to 10 µL [31]), which reduces the method’s sensitivity and sample representativity. In addition, only a pure extract can be injected in these micro-fluidic systems; as a result, they require a previous complex and multi-step off-line sample preparation [25,27,33,34,35]. Thanks to remarkable improvements in multidimensional systems and UPLC stationary phases, an online analytical platform allowing both the purification and analysis of a various set of compounds could now be considered for exobiological studies.…”

Evidence for Proteogenic Peptide-like Sequences in Meteorites Through an Enzyme-Catalysed Stereoselective Hydrolysis Strategy

“…Five microliters of the samples were analysed ( Figure S1 and Table S3). To analyse peptides, we developed a specific LC-HRMS method described in Eddhif et al 42 (encoded method 1 in Table S4). For this analysis, solutions were loaded by an Accela quaternary 1250 pump onto the analytical column (i.e.…”

“…A second method (method 2 in Table S4) was also developed to discriminate low mass compounds 42 D-Serine C3H8NO3 106.25 > 60.20 [1] 106.25 > 88.20 [1] 12 12 118.30 > 72.25 [1] 118.30 > 55.25 [1] 12 23 D-Threonine C4H9NO3 120.25 > 74.25 [1] 120.25 > 56.25 [1] 12 16 132.30 > 86.15 [1] 132.30 > 44.15 [1] 11 22 D-Aspartic acid C4H7NO4 134.25 > 74.20 [1] 134.25 > 88.20 [1] 15 13 147.30 > 84.25 [1] 147.30 > 130.20 [1] 147.30 > 56.25 [1] 18 15 D-Glutamic acid C5H9NO4 148.25 > 84.20 [1] 148.25 > 56.25 [2] 16 27…”