Differentiation of prototropic ions in regioisomeric caffeoyl quinic acids by electrospray ion mobility mass spectrometry.

Rationale: A series of dietary important regioisomeric chlorogenic acids were investigated by ion mobility mass spectrometry (IM-MS). The existence of prototropic isomers separated in the drift dimension was observed and investigated further using tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) and compared with suitable synthetic analogues.

Methods: Using a quadrupole ion mobility time-of-flight mass spectrometer, the IM-MS and IM-MS/MS spectra of selected chlorogenic acids were recorded in the negative ion mode and compared with synthetic analogues.

Model system-based mechanistic studies of black tea thearubigin formation.

Thearubigins are the most abundant pigments found in black tea, comprising polyphenolic oxidation products, whose composition and chemical nature have remained unresolved until recently. In the course of studying the mechanism of thearubigin formation from green tea flavan-3-ols, a model system, based on electrochemical oxidation of one of the main tea flavan-3-ol substrates, epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), was employed. Reaction intermediates and products were subsequently analysed using mass spectrometry techniques, allowing for the identification of key intermediates and products.

Investigation of isomeric flavanol structures in black tea thearubigins using ultraperformance liquid chromatography coupled to hybrid quadrupole/ion mobility/time of flight mass spectrometry.

Ultra performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) when coupled to ion mobility (IMS)/orthogonal acceleration time of flight mass spectrometry is a suitable technique for analyzing complex mixtures such as the black tea thearubigins. With the aid of this advanced instrumental analysis, we were able to separate and identify different isomeric components in the complex mixture which could previously not be differentiated by a conventional high performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry. In this study, the difference between isomeric structures theasinensins, proanthocyanidins B-type and rutin (quercetin-3O-rutinoside) were studied, and these are present abundantly in many botanical sources.

Identification of novel homologous series of polyhydroxylated theasinensins and theanaphthoquinones in the SII fraction of black tea thearubigins using ESI/HPLC tandem mass spectrometry.

Thearubigins are the most abundant phenolic pigments found in black tea, produced by enzymatic oxidation of green tea flavan-3-ols in tea fermentation of until recently unknown composition. In this study electrospray ionization tandem LC-MS(n) experiments have been applied for the characterization of crude thearubigins isolated from black tea not exceeding 1000 Da. The aim of this study is to confirm the oxidative cascade hypothesis of tea fermentation.

{W48} ring opening: Fe16-containing, Ln4-stabilized 49-tungsto-8-phosphateopen wheel [Fe16O2(OH)23(H2O)9(P8W49O189)Ln4(H2O)20]11-.

Wheely: For the first time and very unexpectedly, a rupture of the very stable {P(8)W(48)} wheel was observed in aqueous solution at pH 4 and 80 °C in the presence of Fe(III), Eu(III)/Gd(III), and H(2)O(2). This inorganic ring opening is unprecedented in polyoxometalate chemistry.