Amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) are a group of β-phenethylamine derivatives that produce central nervous sys-tem stimulants effects. The representative ATS are methamphetamine and 3, 4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), and abuse of ATS has become a global problem. Methamphetamine is abused in North America and Asia, while amphetamine and 3, 4-methyl e nedioxy m ethamphetamine (Ecstasy) are abused in Europe and Australia. Methamphetamine is also the most abused drug in Korea. In addition to the conventional ATS, new psychoactive substances (NPS) including phenethylamines and synthetic cathinones, which have similar effects and chemical structure to ATS, continue to spread to the global market since 2009, and more than 739 NPS have been identified. For the analysis of ATS, two tests that have different theoretical principles have to be conducted, and screening tests by immunoassay and confirmatory tests using GC/MS or LC/MS are the global stan-dard methods. As most ATS have a chiral center, enantiomer separation is an important point in forensic analysis, and it can be conducted using chiral derivatization reagents or chiral columns. In order to respond to the growing drug crime, it is necessary to develop a fast and efficient analytical method.
Drosophila melanogaster (fruits fly) is a representative model system widely used in biological studies because its brain function and basic cellular processes are similar to human beings. The whole head of the fly is often used to obtain the key function in brain-related diseases like degenerative brain diseases; however the biomolecular distribution of the head may be slightly different from that of a brain. Herein, lipid profiles of the head and dissected brain samples of Drosophila were studied using electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (ESI-MS). According to the sample types, the detection of phospholipid ions was suppressed by triacylglycerol (TAG), or the specific phospholipid signals that are absent in the mass spectrum were mea-sured. The lipid distribution was found to be different in the wild-type and the microRNA-14 deficiency model (miR-14Δ 1 ) with abnormal lipid metabolism. A few phospholipids were also profiled by comparison of the head and the brain in two fly model systems. The mass spectra showed that the phospholipid distributions in the miR-14Δ 1 model and the wild-type were different, and principal component analysis revealed a correlation between some phospholipids (phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), phos-phatidylinositol (PI), and phosphatidylserine (PS)) in miR-14Δ 1 . The overall results suggested that brain-related lipids should be profiled using fly samples after dissection for more accurate analysis.
We developed a bioanalytical method for simultaneous determination of nine NBOMe derivatives (25H-NBOMe, 25B-NBOMe, 25E-NBOMe, 25N-NBOMe, 25C-NBOH, 25I-NBOH, 25B-NBF, 25C-NBF, and 25I-NBF) in human plasma using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Human plasma samples were pre-treated using solid-phase extraction. Sepa-ration was achieved on a C18 column under gradient elution using a mobile phase containing 0.1% formic acid in acetonitrile and 0.1% formic acid in water at a flow rate of 0.3 mL/min. Mass detection was performed in the positive ion mode using multiple reaction moni-toring. The calibration range was 1-100ng/mL for all quantitative analytes, with a correlation coefficient greater than 0.99. The intra- and inter-day precision and accuracy varied from 0.85 to 6.92% and from 90.19 to 108.69%, respectively. The recovery ranged from 86.36 to 118.52%, and the matrix effects ranged from 27.09 to 99.72%. The stability was acceptable in various conditions. The LC-MS/MS method was validated for linearity, accuracy, precision, matrix effects, recovery and stability in accordance with the FDA guidance. The proposed method is suitable for reliable and robust routine screening and analysis of nine NBOMe derivatives in forensic field.
In this article, the properties of CO 2 + (CO 2 ) n clusters in a Paul ion trap have been investigated using mass-selective instability mode which conducted by chosen precursor ions, mainly Ar + and CO 2 + produced by a mixture of Ar and CO 2 . Expo- sure of CO 2 + ions to CO 2 molecules, lead to the formation of CO 2 + (CO 2 ) n clusters. Here, Ar gas react as a buffer gas and lead to form CO 2 + (CO 2 ) n cluster by collisional effect.
The π-π interactions of the peptide-dimer and peptide-trimer complexes were investigated in the (VQIVYK + LYQLEN) and (VQIVYK + NNQQNY) mixing solutions. The results showed that tyrosine (Y) residues were critical in the for-mation of hetero peptide-dimers and -trimers during the early oligomerization process. We used collision-induced dissociation (CID) along with electrospray ionization mass spectroscopy (ESI-MS) to obtain the structural information of the hetero-dimers and -trimers. We chose three amyloidogenic peptides–VQIVYK, NNQQNY, and LYQLEN–from tau protein, yeast prion-like protein Sup35, and insulin chain A, respectively. Hetero-dimer, -trimer, -tetramer, and -pentamer complexes were observed in the mass spectra. The tandem mass spectrum of the hetero-dimer and hetero-trimer showed two different fragmentation patterns (covalent and non-covalent bond dissociation). Y-Y interaction structures were also proposed for the hetero-dimer and -trimer complexes.
Damaurone D belongs to the genus Rosa and is a traditional medicinal product used for the treatment of depression, inflammation, and infectious diseases. The purpose of this study was to develop a simple liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method for the detection of damaurone D in rat plasma and to demonstrate its application in pharmacokinetic stud-ies. Damaurone D and berberine (internal standard) were extracted with acetonitrile using a protein precipitation method. Mass transition was monitored in multiple reaction monitoring mode at m/z 323.2→267.0 for damaurone D and m/z 336.1→320.0 for berberine in positive ion mode. Analytical validation was conducted by evaluating the specificity, linearity, accuracy, precision, matrix effect, extraction recovery, and stability. The calibration curves were linear over 2–1000 ng/mL. The intra- and inter-day precision and accuracy of quality control samples were 4.79–13.33% and 86.23–102.75%, respectively. The matrix effect and extraction recovery were 96.11–98.47% and 96.11–102.25%, respectively. In the pharmacokinetic study after intravenous administration of damaurone D at a dose of 3 mg/kg in rats, the area under the curve and clearance of damaurone D in rat plasma were 16750.26 ± 2676.10 min·ng/mL and 182.44 ± 31.36 mL/min/kg, respectively.