IMPROVED QUANTITATION OF POLY(ETHYLENE GLYCOL) IN VARIOUS
MATRICES USING LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHY-MASS SPECTROMETRY
WITH ELECTROSPRAY IONIZATION
American Chemical Society 2005 Fall Scientific Meeting, Midland Local Section
Midland, MI
J.T. Roy, J. Lenartowicz
John T. Roy and Joshua Lenartowicz
Impact Analytical, 1910 W. St. Andrews Rd., Midland, MI 48640
A new approach for the analysis of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) was developed that
utilizes liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) with electrospray ionization
and an ion trap mass spectrometer. The technique was used to detect this material in
several different matrices. This procedure can be used for the direct analysis of PEG with
different molecular weights that otherwise may be difficult to characterize by other
techniques. The LC-MS procedure was used to monitor PEG in ethoxylated alcohols and
in sodium bicarbonate buffering media that was used for the culture of human normal and
neoplastic leukocytes. The LC-MS approach was also used to characterize PEG that was
undergoing good laboratory practice (GLP) testing.
Quantitation was also desired for PEG in the sodium bicarbonate buffering media. The
initial LC-MS conditions that were developed did not afford good quantitation for PEG
due to poor linearity and precision. The current work has focused on improving
quantitation with the LC-MS procedure. Utilizing ammonium acetate in the
chromatographic eluent favors the formation of ammonium adducts versus other adducts,
which has simplified the analysis procedure. Precision for the analysis has also been
improved by using poly(propylene glycol) as an internal standard. Recent results that
have been obtained for the quantitation of PEG in the sodium bicarbonate buffer solution
will be presented.