Determination of selenoamino acids using two-dimensional ion-pair reversed phase chromatography with on-line detection by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

摘要

Analytical methods for the speciation of nine selenium species (selenite, selenourea, trimethylselonium ion, selenocystamine, selenocysine, selenocysteine, selenomethionine and selenothionine) that are commonly encountered in biological and environmental samples were developed. Good separation was achieved by either a mixed ion-pair reversed phase chromatography (LiChrosorb RP 18, 2.5 mM 1-butanesulfonate-8 mM tetramethyl-lammonium hydroxide-4 mM malonic acid -0.05% methanol, pH 4.5) or a conventional ion-pair reversed phase chromatography (Inertsil ODS, 10 mM tetraethylammonium hydroxide - 4.5 mM malonic acid, pH 6.8) with on-line ICP-MS detection.Using a 20-mul sample loop, low detection limits around 1 ng ml~(-1) expressed as Se were achieved for the examined selenium species. The methods were used for the determination of selenoamino acids in a selenium nutritional supplement. The developed methods were found to be rather robust. No alteration of the separation was observed when the protease enzymatic extracts were analyzed without dilution. Both water extracts and enzymatic extracts were chromatographed first with the mixed ion-pair reversed phase chromatographic system, then the major chromatographic peaks were collected and analyzed by the second ion-pair reversed phase chromatographic system for a further verification of their identify. Selenomethionine was found to be the major selenium species in the supplement. A major unknown species, probably Se-adenosylhomocysteine, could be determined in the extracts. A biological reference material, Dolt-2, was also examined for the selenoamino acids. Selenocysteine and selenomethionine could be detected in its enzymatic extract, suggesting that Dolt-2 may be used as a referernce material for the identification of selenoamino acids in biological and environmental samples. As selenoethionine does not occur naturally in the investigated samples, it is added as an internal standard in this study.