Analysis of lipophilic peptides and therapeutic drugs: on-line-nonaqueous capillary electrophoresis mass spectrometry

This minireview addresses the usefulness of nonaqueous capillary electropho resis-mass spectrometry (NACE-MS), mainly in the analysis of lipophilic pep tides such as gramicidin S and bacitracin, and therapeutic drugs such as py razoloacridine, the H-2 antagonist mifentidine, tamoxifen, and their metabo lites. The beneficial effects of NACE-MS in typical bioanalytical applicati ons are analyzed case by case. A suitable and widely applicable NACE-MS ana lysis is identified, which is an electrolyte buffer containing ammonium ace tate (5-50 mM) and/or acetic acid (up to 100 mM) with varying composition o f organic solvents. Either acetonitrile or methanol or a mixture of the two are mostly utilized in the nonaqueous media. Primary considerations in dev eloping NACE-MS are also discussed. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All righ ts reserved.