A method for the determination of phenylpyruvic acid (PPA) in human urine and plasma by gas chromatography/negative ion chemical ionization (NCI) mass spegtrometry was developed, in order to study its variation in concentration against time in the human body using an isotope labelled analogue. After 100 μ
l of urine and plasma sample spiked with [
13C
6]-PPA internal standard was purified with a hydrazide gel column, it was converted into the stable quinoxalinol derivative with 4,5-diamino-o-phenylendiamine in acidic solution, followed by conversion into the pentafluorobenzyl (PFB) derivative. The NCI mass spectra of the PPA-quinoxalinol-PFB derivative gave a base peak at
m/z 263 (M-PFB)
- with methane reagent gas. This ion was used for selected ion monitoring (SIM) in high resolution (
R= 8,000) mode, with perfluorokerosene (PFK) used as a lock mass. The determination limit of this method was 1.0 pg. The PPA concentrations in urine and plasma from healthy persons were found to be 0.272±0.159 nmol/mg creatinine and 0.232±0.078 nmol/m
l (
n =12) with repeatability (R.S.D) of 3.3% and 4.2% (
n = 5), respectively. The presence of keto- and enol-isomers in PPA-quinoxalinol derivatives were also confirmed from their IR spectra. The proposed method can be used for measuring the metabolism of PPA
in vivo by labelled compound dosage.
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