University of Mississippi eGrove Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate School 1-1-2015 Method development for mass spectrometric characterization of ultra-small nanomolecules and mass spectrometry imaging of selected biomolecules Nuwan K. Kothalawala University of Mississippi Follow this and additional works at: https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd Part of the Chemistry Commons Recommended Citation Kothalawala, Nuwan K., "Method development for mass spectrometric characterization of ultra-small nanomolecules and mass spectrometry imaging of selected biomolecules" (2015). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1366. https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd/1366 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at eGrove. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of eGrove. For more information, please contact [email protected]. METHOD DEVELOPMENT FOR MASS SPECTROMETRIC CHARACTERIZATION OF ULTRA-SMALL NANOMOLECULES AND MASS SPECTROMETRY IMAGING OF SELECTED BIOMOLECULES A Dissertation Presented for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree The University of Mississippi Kothalawalage Nuwan Kothalawala February 2015 Copyright © 2015 by Kothalawalage Nuwan Kothalawala All rights reserved ABSTRACT High sensitivity, selectivity and remarkable identification capabilities facilitate the applicability of mass spectrometry (MS) in diverse fields. This dissertation outlines how this cutting edge technology is used to determine the chemical composition of the ultra-small nanomolecules (NMs) to atomic precision and obtain spatial resolution of selected biomolecules using mass spectrometry imaging (MSI). Chapter I includes introduction to electrospray ionization (ESI) and matrix assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) MS used in my PhD research. Chapter II explains how high resolution ESI-MS methods were developed to analyze the polar water-soluble NMs. These new methods express how ESI-MS parameters need to be optimized to analyze the polar NMs based on their polarity, chain-length of the ligands, size and stability. In addition, new methods are presented on how to overcome common issues such as impurities, adduct formation and solvent clusters arising during the analysis of polar NMs including the special approach to enhance the peak intensities and lower the fragmentations. To expand the horizons of the invented MS protocols, this chapter explains new protocols to synthesis, separation and purification to get highly monodisperse NMs in an unprecedented range from 10’s to 1000’s of atoms. Chapter III contains new MSI methods developed to study biologically important molecules and their spatial location in different samples such as microbial colonies, animal tissues, plant tissues and forensic samples. The microbial species produced important natural ii products and metabolites which can be applicable in different fields. This chapter has two themes based on method development for MSI to detect the important secondary metabolites including rapamycin and manzamine in bacteria colonies. During imaging experiments new metabolomes including iturin and fengycin were detected. After the discovery of iturin, to the new MSI method facilitated the study of how host plant regulates iturin production. Recently, most imaging applications are based on animal tissue imaging due to the pharmaceutical involvement and disease control. This chapter includes MSI method developed to detect neurotransmitters in chick brain tissues. Further, chapter III contains studies based on MSI method developed for detection of natural products in plant tissues. Finally, a MSI method was developed for detection of analytes in forensic samples. iii DEDICATION This work is dedicated to my parents, family, friends and all my teachers. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE CHAPTER I .................................................................................................................................... 1 INTRODUCTION TO MASS SPECTROMETRY........................................................................ 1 1.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Ionization Sources ................................................................................................................. 2 1.2.1 Matrix assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) .................................................... 3 1.2.2 Electrospray ionization (ESI) .......................................................................................... 6 1.3 Mass analyzers ..................................................................................................................... 11 1.4 Collision Induced Dissociation (CID) ................................................................................. 13 1.5 Waters™ Synapt G1 Q-TOF MS ........................................................................................ 13 1.6 Bruker™ Autoflex I and II MS ........................................................................................... 15 CHAPTER II ................................................................................................................................. 17 MASS SPECTROMETRY OF ULTRA-SMALL NANOMOLECULES ................................... 17 2.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 17 2.1.1 Ultra-small nanomolecules (NMs) ................................................................................ 17 2.1.2 Stability of NMs ............................................................................................................ 17 2.1.2 Synthesis of NMs .......................................................................................................... 22 2.1.3 Polydispersity and monodispersity of NMs .................................................................. 23 2.1.4 Characterization of NMs ............................................................................................... 25 2.1.5 Mass spectrometry of NMs ........................................................................................... 27 2.1.6 Polar vs non-polar NMs ................................................................................................ 33 2.2 Experimental section ........................................................................................................... 35 2.2.1 Synthesis of Au x(SR) y in water or methanol - one phase method ................................. 35 2.2.2 Synthesis of Au 144-xPd x(SR) 60 in toluene - two phase method ...................................... 35 2.2.3 Etching of crude product with non-polar ligand ........................................................... 36 v 2.2.4 Etching of crude product with polar ligand ................................................................... 36 2.2.5 Polyacrylamide Gel Electrophoresis (PAGE) ............................................................... 36 2.2.6 Optical absorption spectroscopy ................................................................................... 37 2.2.7 ESI mass spectrometry .................................................................................................. 37 2.2.8 MALDI mass spectrometry of non-polar NMs ............................................................. 37 2.2.9 SEC with Sephadex™ LH-20 Beads ............................................................................ 38 2.2.10 SEC with Biorad™ P100 Beads .................................................................................. 38 2.3 MS of glutathione stabilized water soluble magic number gold NMs ................................ 39 2.3.1 Problem statement ......................................................................................................... 39 2.3.2 Approach ....................................................................................................................... 39 2.3.3 Intellectual Merit ........................................................................................................... 40 2.3.4 Results and discussion ................................................................................................... 41 2.3.5 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 54 2.4 MS of paramercaptobenzoic acid (pmba) stabilized magic number gold NMs .................. 55 2.4.1 Problem statement ......................................................................................................... 55 2.4.2 Approach ....................................................................................................................... 55 2.4.3 Intellectual Merit ........................................................................................................... 56 2.4.4 Results and discussion ................................................................................................... 56 2.4.5 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 60 2.5 MS of polar Au 25 (SR) 18 NMs .............................................................................................. 61 2.5.1 Problem statement ......................................................................................................... 61 2.5.2 Approach ......................................................................................................................