Lecithin mass spectrometry

Vergey, A. L., Kody, M. H., and Gershfield, N. L. (1981). Quantitative analysis of disaturated lecithins in human plasma by ammonia chemical ionisation mass spectrometry. Biomed. Mass Spectrom. 8, 503-505. 

P. A. Scindler, C. A. Settineri, X. Collet, C. J. Fielding, and A. L. Burlingame, Site-specific detection and stmctnral characterization of the glycosylation of human plasma proteins lecithin cholesterol acyltransferase and apolipoprotein D using HPLC/ electrospray mass spectrometry and sequential glycosidase digestion. Protein Sci. 4, 791-803 (1995). 

Stubiger, G., Pittenauer, E., Belgacem, O., Rehulka, P., Widhahn, K., and Allmaier, G. 2009. Analysis of human plasma lipids and soybean lecithin by means of high-performance thin-layer chromatography and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ioniza-tion mass spectrometry, Rapid Commun. Mass Spectrom., 23 2711-2723. 

Lecithin is analyzed according to the AOCS Ja method series (28). For food uses, the Food Chemicals Codex should also be consulted. These procedures are mainly based on gross physical properties, such as acetone solubility. An exception is the TLC method, which gives the composition in terms of individual phosphatides (29). Because of their importance in biology, phosphatides are the focus of intense method development. Mass spectrometry is the most powerful tool to characterize mixtures of phophatides (see Chapter 15), but there is usually no need to perform a complete MS analysis of lecithin. Commercial lecithin is a complex mixture, the properties of which are profoundly influenced by the considerable amount of nonphosphatide materials present. Further information on lecithin can be found in specialized publications (30). 

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