CE-TOFMS Analysis of Amino Acids

Researchers from Utrecht University's (Utrecht, The Netherlands) Department of Biomedical Analysis have described a capillary electrophoresis-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (CE-TOFMS) method for analyzing amino acids in the urine of patients with urinary tract infections. The method involves the use of capillaries coated with polybrene and poly(vinyl sulfonate) to obtain migration time repeatability with relative standard deviations of less than 2%. Limits of detection for the amino acids were reported to be as low as 20 nM. According to the researchers, the method shows good potential for the screening of body fluids based on the analysis of endogenous low molecular weight metabolites such as amino acids and related compounds.