Abstract
2'-deoxymugineric acid (DMA) is a chelater of Fe3+ and plays an important role in uptake of Fe in gramineous plants. Nicotianamine (NA) chelates many kinds of metals and has an significant role in metal homeostasis in higher plants. DMA and NA are usually quantified by HPLC and UV absorption, and its quantification limit is 100 pmol. Consequently we need large amount of samples to measure DMA and NA by HPLC. A highly sensitive and simple quantification method for DMA and NA was developed using liquid chromatography/erectrospray ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC/ESI-TOF-MS). Fluorenylmethoxycarbonylation of DMA and NA enabled their retention on a reversed phase column. A internal standard, N-nicotyllysine (NL) was used to ensure reliable quantification by giving a linear calibration curve drawn between the DMA/NL and NA/NL molar ratios injected and the DMA/NL and NA/NL area ratio in mass chromatograms. DMA and NA are quantified at the same time.
