Coldspray-TOFMS : Analysis of Porphyrin Isomers by AccuTOF™ CS
MS Tips No. 036
Dr. Furuta of Kyushu University has been studying membrane transport of proton and specific anions using porphyrin compounds. He has reported that multiple N-confused expanded porphyrin, which combines rotating and expanding characteristics of intramolecular pyrrole ring in N-confused porphyrin (NCP), an isomer of porphyrin, is effective for membrane transport.1)-3) N-confused porphyrin is known to bond with a number of metal elements to form relatively stable complexes. An N-confused porphyrin metal complex has a carbon-metal bond within a ring, acting as an organic metal complex. With confused pyrrole introduced into the ring, the complex will become unstable, and will be unfit for conventional ESI. Cold-spray ionization is more effective for such unstable samples. The figure below shows an outline of a cold-spray system.(For details of cold-spray ionization, see MS Tips No. 035.) We used doubly N-confused porphyrin and its copper complex as samples to test the effectiveness of cold-spray ionization. We analyzed the samples in ESI and cold-spray, and compared the mass spectral data acquired under each set of conditions.