M. Eskinja et al., CHARACTERIZATION OF MERCAPTURIC ACIDS BY 3 DIFFERENT MASS-SPECTROMETRIC METHODS, Rapid communications in mass spectrometry, 11(8), 1997, pp. 931-935
The determination of mercapturic acids, as metabolic end-products of a
n important pathway in the biotransformation of xenobiotics, in human
urine is becoming a standard tool for the biomonitoring of populations
exposed to potential mutagens and carcinogens, Mass spectrometric met
hods permit the direct identification and characterization of these su
bstances without a previous derivatization step. In this work, N-acety
lcysteine conjugates of synthetic origin were characterized by three d
ifferent mass spectrometric methods: matrix-assisted laser desorption/
ionization (MALDI) mass spectrometry, positive and negative californiu
m-252 plasma desorption mass spectrometry (PD-MS) and fast-atom bombar
dment (FAB) mass spectrometry. For PD-MS, samples were prepared by the
spin deposition technique on plain aluminium targets, alpha-Cyano-4-h
ydroxycinnamic acid and 2,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid were used as MALDI m
atrices and glycerol as a matrix for FAB. Complementary structural inf
ormation on the N-acetylcysteine moiety and the xenobiotic moiety was
obtained through PD-MS and FAB spectra. All three techniques could be
used for relative molecular mass determination. The spectra exhibited
protonated molecules [M + H](+) or [M + Na](+) ions with high abundanc
e. MALDI was the most sensitive among the three tested methods. (C) 19
97 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.