Novel methods for the rapid and selective analysis of biological samples using hyphenated ion mobility-mass spectrometry with ambient ionization

The increased use of mass spectrometry in the clinical setting has led to a demand for high sample throughput. Developments such as ultra high performance liquid chromatography and the ambient ionization techniques enable high sample throughput by reducing chromatographic run times or by removing the requirement for sample preparation and fractionation prior to analysis. This thesis assesses the reproducibility and robustness of these high throughput techniques for the analysis of clinical and pharmaceutical samples by ion mobility-mass spectrometry. The rapid quantitative analysis of the urinary biomarkers of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, desmosine and isodesmosine has been performed by ultra high performance liquid chromatography combined with ion mobility-mass spectrometry. The determination of health status based on the free unbound fraction rather than the total bound and unbound desmosine and isodesmosine, significantly reduces the time taken in sample preparation. The potential for direct analysis of the urinary metabolites from undeveloped TLC plates using a solvent extraction surface sample probe is demonstrated. The use of a solvent gradient for the extraction separates urinary metabolites from salts and other matrix components and allows fractionation of the sample as a result of differential retention on the undeveloped RP-TLC plate. This separation, combined with ion mobility-mass spectrometry provides a rapid ambient ionization method for urinary profiling. The combination of a thermal desorption probe with extractive electrospray ionization has been applied to the direct detection of a known genotoxic impurity from a surrogate active pharmaceutical ingredient. The volatility of the impurity compared to the matrix, allowed selective thermal desorption of the analyte, which was ionized by extractive electrospray and detected by mass spectrometry. The use of a rapid on-probe derivatisation reaction, combined with thermal desorption is demonstrated for the direct determination of urinary creatinine. The aqueous acylation of creatinine significantly increases the volatility of the analyte enabling separation from the urine matrix and analysis by thermal desorption extractive electrospray combined with ion mobility-mass spectrometry