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Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry: An Introduction. Robert E. Ardrey. Huddersfield, UK: Wiley, 2003, 276 pp., $110.00, hardcover. ISBN 0-471-49799-1.

¹ San Diego State University, Department of Chemistry, San Diego, CA 92182-0338
² Veterans Affairs Health Care Center, University of California-San Diego, San Diego, CA 92161

This book covers the diverse and rapidly expanding topic of liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC-MS). The first half of the text (Chapters 1–4) covers chromatographic theory in some depth and provides an overview of MS methods that are applicable to LC-MS. Chapter 5 comprises the second half of the book and contains applications of LC-MS and MS techniques to small molecules and biopolymers. The text contains a bibliography, an appendix of physical constants, and a complete glossary of terms specific for LC-MS. This book is written especially for self-study and for in-house training sessions. Each chapter includes learning objectives, pertinent references, a summary, and self-assessment questions.

Following a brief introductory chapter, Chapter 2 contains basic LC theory and describes the instrumentation used in HPLC. It also describes the strengths of various types of detectors in qualitative and quantitative analysis. Chapter 3 briefly introduces most of the MS methods used in LC-MS and describes the properties of the mass spectrum and methods for processing data for chemical analysis. A variety of mass analyzers, including tandem MS (MS-MS) methods, are described. In this chapter, Dr. Ardrey does a nice job of describing how data acquisition rate is important to defining a chromatographic peak.

Chapter 4 describes seven different types of LC-MS interfaces that are available and compares their strengths and weaknesses. Chapter 4 also provides an interesting historical perspective on the development of LC-MS. The author concludes with a very good description of the most commonly used methods, electrospray ionization (ESI) and atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI).

Chapter 5 is the capstone in which the author has selected examples from the literature of specific assays covering a variety of compound types. Many of the applications were selected to show the versatility of LC-MS and MS-MS techniques for solving structural problems. Specific examples are provided for molecular weight determination of biopolymers, amino acid sequencing of proteins, and molecular weight and structural determination of small molecules and their metabolites. Details are provided for readers not familiar with the analysis of peptides, enzymatic degradation of proteins, and the ESI fragmentation patterns that are produced. The author provides valuable information for the user about experimental design and method development in LC-MS, an area where the beginner often has difficulty. Good examples are provided that show how various operating conditions can be systematically altered to optimize a chemical separation and improve sensitivity for specific compounds.

A limitation of the text is that no examples of isotope-dilution quantification methods are presented. Although the author mentions isotope dilution several times, the importance of using a good internal standard for accurate quantification is not illustrated with an example, although he discusses quantitative analysis in several sections. Another limitation, which would apply to any liquid chromatographer who is just learning MS, is that there is no description of how to modify traditional LC solvent programs to eliminate nonvolatile buffers.

Although the book has no examples of applications of LC-MS that are directly applicable for the clinical laboratory, overall the author provides a good introduction to LC-MS for any serious user. Ion trap and quadrupole mass analyzers encompass >90% of the LC-MS market, and as such, more description and discussion of them and less about magnetic sector instruments may have been helpful. Detailed descriptions of outdated LC-MS techniques described in Chapter 4 will be of limited interest to most readers of Clinical Chemistry, who generally are most interested in the two methods that dominate the LC-MS field: ESI and APCI.

This Article Extract Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Chatfield, D. A. Articles by Fitzgerald, R. L. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Chatfield, D. A. Articles by Fitzgerald, R. L.