| Summary: | Amino acids play vital roles in health, either in their native form or chemically modified. Some studies have linked certain non-proteinogenic amino acids to neurodegenerative diseases, such as in the case of β-methylaminoalanine (BMAA). Various environmental pollutants, including carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic compounds, are able to react forming adducts with blood proteins. Amino acids may also be essential in chemical ecology as constituents of flower nectar, potentially used by common feeders as butterflies to synthesize pheromones. Additionally, proteinaceous materials have been detected in aerosols with an apparent potential to influence climate, possibly having a role in cloud formation. The determination of amino acids presents many challenges, due to the fact that they are most often constituents of complex sample matrices that contain a high level of chemical interferences. In this respect, mass spectrometry (MS) is a selective and sensitive analytical tool that can be used to measure amino acids in biological samples. In this work, several analytical methods based on MS were developed. (i) First, derivatization with a permanently charged N-hydroxysuccinimide ester of N-butylnicotinic acid (C4-NA-NHS) was used to increase the sensitivity and selectivity for amino acids. This strategy was applied to localize BMAA in both visceral and non-visceral parts of blue mussels. (ii) Moreover, a method was developed to separate and determine L- and D- BMAA in cycad seeds by derivatization with a chiral reagent, (+)-1-(9-fluorenyl) ethyl chloroformate (FLEC). Together with L-BMAA, appreciable amounts of D-BMAA (50.13 ± 0.05 and 4.08 ± 0.04 µg BMAA/g Cycas micronesica, wet weight, respectively) were detected for the first time after enzymatic digestion, suggesting D-BMAA may be bound to proteins or may be a conjugate and released only after hydrolysis. (iii) Derivatization with C4-NA-NHS was applied as well for the determination of amino acids in nectar of Bunias orientalis. The presence of tryptophan and ...
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