Royal Society of Chemistry Mass Spectrometry and Nutrition Research: Volume 9 (RSC Food Analysis Monographs)

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Mass Spectrometry and Nutrition Research By Laurent B. Fay, Martin Kussmann The Royal Society of ChemistryCopyright © 2010 The Royal Society of Chemistry All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-84973-036-5 Contents Abbreviations, xv, About the Editors, xviii, SECTION 1: MASS SPECTROMETRY TECHNOLOGIES, Chapter 1 Mass Spectrometry Technologies Laurent B. Fay and Martin Kussmann, 3, SECTION 2: MASS SPECTROMETRY ANALYSIS OF FOOD INGREDIENTS, Chapter 2 Mass Spectrometry for Food Analysis: The Example of Fat Soluble Vitamins A and K Gregory G. Dolnikowski, 51, Chapter 3 Mass Spectrometry for the Analysis of Milk Oligosaccharides Daniel Kolarich and Nicolle H. Packer, 59, Chapter 4 Mass Spectrometry in Protein, Peptide and Amino Acid Analysis Claudio Corradini, Lisa Elviri and Antonella Cavazza, 78, Chapter 5 Lipidomics and Metabolomics of Dietary Lipid Peroxidation Arnis Kuksis, 102, Chapter 6 Mass Spectrometry in Phytonutrient Research Jean-Luc Wolfender, Aude Violette and Laurent B. Fay, 163, SECTION 3: ADDRESSING THE HEALTH ASPECTS OF NUTRITION, Chapter 7 Addressing the Health Beneficial Aspects of Nutrition — The Example of the Obesity Epidemic Maria Lankinen and Matej Oresic, 237, Chapter 8 Mass Spectrometry, Diet and Cardiovascular Disease: What will They Mean for Food? J. Bruce German, 244, Chapter 9 Nutrition and Immunity Martin Kussmann, 268, Chapter 10 Mass spectrometry, Nutrition and Protein Turnover Michael Affolter, 310, SECTION 4: CONCLUSION, Chapter 11 Conclusion Laurent B. Fay and Martin Kussmann, 329, Subject Index, 332, CHAPTER 1 Mass Spectrometry Technologies LAURENT B. FAY AND MARTIN KUSSMANN 1.1 Introduction Mass spectrometers are molecular balances. They can determine the size, quantity and structure of inorganic and organic compounds. Traditionally, these measures had been limited to volatile organic compounds, but for 20 years mass spectrometers have generated such information also on large, fragile and non-volatile molecules such as vitamins, peptides, proteins, oligo- and poly-saccharides, and even DNA and RNA. Mass spectrometry (MS) has become an essential analytical tool in modern life sciences, not only thanks to its sensitivity but also to the large amount of information delivered by this technique from a structural and a quantitative viewpoint. Typically, mass spectrometers enable structure elucidation of organic molecules via the determination of molecular weight and the study of fragmentation patterns. Moreover, and increasingly importantly, such instruments can quantify these organic molecules. Additionally, in scientific areas other than the life sciences (geochemistry, ecology, food chemistry, forensic and sport science), mass spectrometry is widely deployed to precisely determine stable isotope ratios of exogenous or endogenous molecules. 13C labelled compounds are mainly used in mass spectrometry as internal standards or to generate metabolite information. Whereas hydrogen/deuterium exchange experiments are used to distinguish between isomeric structures of analytes. In 1910, J. J. Thomson was the first to build a so-called "parabola spectrograph" meant for the determination of mass-to-charge (m/z) ratios of ions. Following this pioneering work, A. J. Dempster and F. W. Aston developed the first mass spectrometric instrument. Dempster constructed a magnetic analyzer that focused ions into an electrical collector, while Aston utilized both electrostatic and magnetic fields to focus ions onto a photographic plate. From the late 1930s to the early 1950s, A. Nier in collaboration with J. H. E. Mattauch, R. F. K. Herzog and K. T. Bainbridge (amongst others) incorporated many developments in vacuum technologies and electronics for power supplies and ion detection. Their work significantly improved magnetic focusing instruments leading to better performance, convenience and lower costs. Double-focusing machines, attaining greater precision by addin