THERMOSPRAY LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHY MASS-SPECTROMETRY IN PHYTOCHEMICAL ANALYSIS

Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) has become a successfu l analytical tool and is no longer regarded as a pure research instrum ent without any routine practical applications. The development of the thermospray interface (TSP) has been of great help in this respect, a llowing the direct use of standard HPLC conditions (1 mL/min, aqueous solvents) for the LC-MS coupling. TSP LC-MS has been used in phytochem ical analysis as a powerful detection technique for on-line identifica tion and for quantification of plant constituents, even in trace amoun ts. Applications of this technique to different classes of plant metab olites such as polyphenols, terpenes, sugars, glucosinolates, alkaloid s and glycosides are described. The potential of TSP LC-MS in the anal ysis of crude plant extracts is discussed.