FAST-ATOM-BOMBARDMENT AND TANDEM MASS-SPECTROMETRY FOR THE IDENTIFICATION OF NUCLEOSIDE ADDUCTS WITH PHENYL GLYCIDYL ETHER

The present study deals with the use of fast atom bombardment (FAB) in combination with constant neutral loss (CNL) scanning, high resolution mass spectrometry and tandem mass spectrometry (MS-MS) with collisionally activated decomposition (CAD), as complementary methods for the identification and structural analysis of phenyl glycidyl ether-nucleoside adducts. Selective detection of the parent ions of the modified nucleosides at the 1–10 ng level has been achieved by suitably designed CNL scans. The elemental composition of the adducts has been determined by accurate mass measurements. CAD-MS has been carried out on the [M + H]+ and [M - H]“ ions to derive structural data on the size and nature of the base, sugar and alkyl substituent. In some cases, information on the alkylation site has been obtained, which is very useful for distinguishing isomeric adducts. © 1990, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. All rights reserved.