Simultaneous quantification of all B vitamins and selected biosynthetic precursors in seawater and bacteria by means of different mass spectrometric approaches

• Published in: Analytical and bioanalytical chemistry 2022-11, Vol.414 (27), p.7839-7854
• Main Authors: Bruns, Stefan, Wienhausen, Gerrit, Scholz-Böttcher, Barbara, Wilkes, Heinz
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Analysis; Analytical Chemistry; Bacteria; Biochemistry; Biosynthesis; Cell culture; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemical analysis; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Detection limits; Food Science; Heterogeneity; High resolution; Identification and classification; Ion currents; Ions; Laboratory Medicine; Low concentrations; Marine environment; Mass spectrometers; Mass spectrometry; Mass spectroscopy; Measurement methods; Measuring methods; Methods; Monitoring; Monitoring/Environmental Analysis; Precursors; Quadrupoles; Research Paper; Scientific imaging; Sea-water; Seawater; Spectrometers; Spectroscopy; Trace levels; Vitamin B; Vitamin B complex; Vitamins; Water analysis; Water sampling
• ISSN: 1618-2642; 1618-2650
• DOI: 10.1007/s00216-022-04317-8

B vitamins have high microbiological relevance in the marine environment, but their very low concentrations and the chemical heterogeneity of the individual vitamins make their analysis challenging. Mass spectrometric analysis of B vitamins in environmental samples at trace levels has mainly been performed using triple quadrupole mass spectrometers operated in targeted analysis mode. The development of such a method can be laborious and error prone. Additionally, high-resolution mass spectrometers can be used to measure a sample in full scan mode and subsequently search the total ion current chromatogram for extracted ion chromatograms of targeted vitamins. Three different analytical approaches for trace analysis of all B vitamins and some of their biosynthetic precursors were optimized and compared on two different mass spectrometers. A triple quadrupole mass spectrometer in selected reaction monitoring mode, and a high-resolution orbitrap mass spectrometer in parallel reaction monitoring, as well as in full scan mode were employed. Detection limits down to 10 ng/L were achieved with all three techniques. The methods were applied to a marine water sample from the North Sea and to the cell extract of a bacterial culture of Phaeobacter inhibens . Most vitamins and precursors were found in the bacterial cell extract and the seawater sample with all three measuring methods. The results of this study emphasize that, in addition to tandem mass spectrometry, high-resolution full scan mass spectrometry is a promising technique for the simultaneous detection of structurally diverse B vitamins in complex natural samples. This enables highly sensitive measurements without loss of detailed mass spectrometric information, which is inevitable when using a triple quadrupole system in MS/MS mode. Graphical abstract