Low level determination of 4-amino-2-ethoxy-cinnamic acid and its ethyl ester in a drug substance and its formulation prototypes by HPLC-UV-DAD.

A reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic method (HPLC) with diode-array detection (DAD) has been evaluated for monitoring trace levels of impurities, such as 4-amino-2-ethoxy-cinnamic acid (impurity A), hydrochloride salt of 4-amino-2-ethoxy-ethyl cinnamate (impurity B), and 4-bromo-3-ethoxy-nitrobenzene (impurity C), in drug substance and 3 different formulation prototypes. These compounds have been highlighted as potential genotoxins and 2-ethoxy-4-amino-cinnamic acid (impurity A) as possible degradant isolated during the synthesis of BI drug substance. HPLC-UV-DAD was found to be more promising, and limits of quantification were between 0.

Atomic and molecular imaging at the single-cell level with TOF-SIMS.

A complete cold chain freeze-fracture methodology has been developed to test the feasibility of using time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS) imaging for the molecular analysis of frozen hydrated biological samples. Because the technique only samples the first few monolayers of a sample, water on the surface of a sample can be a major source of interference. This problem can be minimized by placing a cold trap (fracture knife and housing at -196 degrees C) near the fractured sample that is held at a warmer temperature (-97 to -113 degrees C).

Analysis of single cells with capillary electrophoresis electrospray ionization Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry.

Recent results with on-line capillary electrophoresis (CE) electrospray ionization (ESI) Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FTICR) mass spectrometry suggest that CE/ESI-FTICR can provide a powerful technique for micro-sample analyses owing to the inherent sensitivity of the technique and the enhanced information content derived from high-performance mass measurements. Using micro-sampling methods and ion accumulation techniques based on quadrupolar excitation, we demonstrate that adequate sensitivity exists to characterize the hemoglobin from a single human erythrocyte (approximately 450 amol). In these studies mass spectra with average mass resolution in excess of 45 000 (FWHM) were obtained for both the alpha- and beta chain of hemoglobin following in-column lysing of a single erythrocyte.

Capillary electrophoresis-electrospray ionization Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry for direct analysis of cellular proteins.

The combination of capillary electrophoresis (CE) with electrospray ionization (ESI) mass spectrometry has proven to be broadly applicable to a wide range of biologically important compounds. When combined with Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FTICR) mass spectrometry, the combined method, in addition to high-resolution separations, affords high-resolution precision mass measurements for analytes separated from complex mixtures. Direct chemical analysis of single cells has received considerable attention in recent years; the single cell approach provides a major step toward answering important questions in the field of cellular biochemistry.