Steroid ionization technology I: Metal ion coordination ionspray technology for ionization of steroids

Abstract

Anabolic steroids are synthetic derivatives of the male hormone, and widely used to boost the athletic performance in sports. The detection of steroids has generally been performed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), but liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) is gradually becoming more important. However, their ionization by common API ion source such as electrospray ionization (ESI), atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) and atmospheric pressure photo ionization (APPI) presents some difficulties due to the lack of acidic or basic group in their structure. Moreover, these methods have a limitation that all the steroids cannot be simultaneously ionized in single ionization source. Therefore, in the present study we introduce the metal ion coordination ionspray technology for effective ionization and sensitivity of anabolic steroids in LC-MS/MS and optimize MS parameters, organic modifiers, and concentration of metal ion for the best ionization and sensitivity of steroids.