Determination of monomeric composition in polyhydroxyalkanoates by liquid chromatography coupled with on-line mass spectrometry and off-line nuclear magnetic resonance

Liya Ge; Giin-Yu Amy Tan; Lin Wang; Chia-Lung Chen; Ling Li; Swee Ngin Tan; Jing-Yuan Wang

doi:10.1016/j.talanta.2015.08.029

Determination of monomeric composition in polyhydroxyalkanoates by liquid chromatography coupled with on-line mass spectrometry and off-line nuclear magnetic resonance

Talanta. 2016:146:107-13. doi: 10.1016/j.talanta.2015.08.029. Epub 2015 Aug 15.

Authors

Liya Ge¹, Giin-Yu Amy Tan², Lin Wang³, Chia-Lung Chen³, Ling Li³, Swee Ngin Tan⁴, Jing-Yuan Wang⁵

Affiliations

¹ Residues and Resource Reclamation Centre, Nanyang Environment and Water Research Institute, Nanyang Technological University, 1 Cleantech Loop, Singapore 637141, Singapore. Electronic address: lyge@ntu.edu.sg.
² Residues and Resource Reclamation Centre, Nanyang Environment and Water Research Institute, Nanyang Technological University, 1 Cleantech Loop, Singapore 637141, Singapore; Division of Environmental and Water Resources Engineering, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798, Singapore.
³ Residues and Resource Reclamation Centre, Nanyang Environment and Water Research Institute, Nanyang Technological University, 1 Cleantech Loop, Singapore 637141, Singapore.
⁴ Natural Sciences and Science Education Academic Group, Nanyang Technological University, 1 Nanyang Walk, 637616, Singapore. Electronic address: sweengin.tan@nie.edu.sg.
⁵ Residues and Resource Reclamation Centre, Nanyang Environment and Water Research Institute, Nanyang Technological University, 1 Cleantech Loop, Singapore 637141, Singapore; Division of Environmental and Water Resources Engineering, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798, Singapore. Electronic address: jywang@ntu.edu.sg.

PMID: 26695241
DOI: 10.1016/j.talanta.2015.08.029

Abstract

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are commercially-valuable biocompatible and biodegradable polymers with many potential medical, pharmaceutical and other industrial applications. The analysis of PHA monomeric composition is especially challenging due to the broad chemical diversity of PHA monomers and lack of analytical standards to represent the chemically-diverse PHA monomer constituents. In this study, a novel strategy based on on-line liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) and off-line liquid chromatography-nuclear magnetic resonance (LC-NMR) was established to quantify seven PHA monomers with available standards and used to elucidate the structures of unknown PHA monomers. The strategy was successfully applied for the determination of monomeric composition in bacterial PHAs isolated from Pseudomonads cultivated on different carbon sources after hydrolysis. The results of this work demonstrated that the newly-developed strategy was efficient, repeatable, and could have good potential to be employed for detailed analysis of PHA monomeric composition.

Keywords: Liquid chromatography; Mass spectrometry; Monomeric composition; Nuclear magnetic resonance; Polyhydroxyalkanoates.

MeSH terms

Chromatography, Liquid / methods*
Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy / methods*
Mass Spectrometry / methods*
Polyhydroxyalkanoates / chemistry*
Reproducibility of Results

Substances

Polyhydroxyalkanoates