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DOI: 10.1055/s-0036-1596250
Combining the full potential of UHPSFC-QToF/MS and UHPLC-QToF/MS to improve the workflow efficiency of both plant metabolic profiling and natural bioactive discovery
Publication History
Publication Date:
14 December 2016 (online)
Plants' secondary metabolism is an almost unlimited source of potential bioactive compounds. In the early days requiring tedious compound purification prior to identification, the characterization of bioactive is nowadays performed using powerful hyphenated analytical tools involving ultra-high performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) coupled to high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS). Despite the performance of these platforms, the full comprehensive characterization of all plants' secondary metabolites remains a challenge, as single chromatographic approaches generally struggle to address the wide diversity of physicochemical properties (e.g. polarity, solubility, acido-basic properties and molecular mass) covered by natural products (NPs) [1].
In this context, the recent re-emergence of supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) as a competitive analytical tool is particularly attractive, since SFC combines both high chromatographic performance and versatility in terms of analysable compounds, while maintaining a full MS compatibility [2,3]. The present contribution focuses on the build-up and optimization of a combined strategy involving both UHPSFC and UHPLC coupled with a quadrupole-Time-of-Flight mass analyzer (QToF/MS) aiming for high-throughput analysis of plants' secondary metabolites. As a preamble, an extensive analytical condition screening was performed on various operating modes within both UHPSFC and UHPLC approaches using 120 representative NPs covering a very wide chemical space. The systematic assessment of retention and selectivity obtained in these operating modes allowed to highlight a reduced set of key conditions offering both versatility and complementarity for analyzing complex NPs mixtures within a rational number of assays. Finally, optimized and complementary analytical conditions have been successfully applied for the extended characterization of several plant extracts (Fig 1).
Acknowledgements: Professor Caroline West is acknowledged for stimulating scientific discussions and Martine Cabo for plant extracts preparation.
Keywords: UHPSFC, UHPLC, HRMS, hyphenated techniques, plant metabolites profiling, natural products analysis.
References:
[1] Wolfender JL, Marti G, Thomas A, Bertrand S. Current approaches and challenges for the metabolite profiling of complex natural extracts. J Chromatogr A 2015; 1382: 136 – 164
[2] Grand-Guillaume Perrenoud A, Veuthey JL, Guillarme D. The use of columns packed with sub-2 µm particles in supercritical fluid chromatography. TrAC 2014; 63: 44 – 54
[3] Grand-Guillaume Perrenoud A, Veuthey JL, Guillarme D. Coupling state-of-the-art supercritical fluid chromatography and mass spectrometry: from hyphenation interface optimization to high-sensitivity analysis of pharmaceutical compounds. J Chromatogr A 2014; 1339: 174 – 184