Method development for quantitative analysis of thyroid hormones by LC-MS/MS.

Dessicated thyroid powder was sometimes adulterated in slimming supplements, resulting in serious safety and quality concerns. The complex sample matrix present in these slimming supplements also makes the screening and analysis for illegal drugs difficult. In this project, a LC-MS/MS method was developed to increase the recovery of thyroid hormone adulterated in slimming supplements. When spiked samples were pre-cleaned with ACN, subjected to 28 hours incubation and evaluated with LC-MS/MS in mobile phase [A] 0.2% formic acid and 0.2% of 1M ammonium formate in ultrapure water and [B] 0.2% formic acid and 0.2% of 1M ammonium formate in ACN, a moderate recovery of about 50 60% for T3 and a high recovery of 60 84% for T4 can be achieved using standard addition calibration. Furthermore, preliminary result from solid phase extraction showed that it is effective in minimizing ion suppression and has the potential to achieve a high recovery with proper optimization.Bachelor of Science in Biological Science