Structural characterization of phosphatidylcholines by atmospheric pressure photoionization mass spectrometry

Eur. J. Mass Spectrom. 11, 409–417 (2005)
DOI: 10.1255/ejms.760

Structural characterization of phosphatidylcholines by atmospheric pressure photoionization mass spectrometry

Arnaud Delobel, David Touboul and Olivier Laprévote*
Laboratoire de Spectrométrie de Masse, Institut de Chimie des Substances Naturelles, (ICSN-CNRS) , Av. de la Terrasse, F-91198 GIF-SUR-YVETTE Cedex, France

ABSTRACT:

The potential of atmospheric pressure photoionization was investigated for the structural analysis of phosphatidylcholine lipids (PCs). [M+H]⁺ ions of high abundance were obtained, along with several fragment ions. Three of these dissociation products corresponded to quite unusual fragmentation pathways but allowed the determination of both the nature and the position on the glycerol backbone (sn-1 or sn-2) of the fatty acyl chains. The loss of a methyl group from the choline head was also observed. These results suggest a complex ionization mechanism in APPI. However, this method proved to be very powerful for the rapid structural analysis of PC species without using MS/MS experiments.

Keywords: mass spectrometry, atmospheric pressure photoionization, phosphatidylcholine, fragmentation

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