LC-MS/MS-based non-isotopically paired labeling (NIPL) strategy for the qualification and quantification of monosaccharides

Investigation into monosaccharides is critical for studies of oligosaccharides structure and function in biological processes. However, monosaccharides quantification is still challenge due to their isomeric structure and high hydrophilic properties . Besides, it was difficult to obtain isotopic internal standards (IS) of each monosaccharide in complex matrixes. Herein, we developed a novel strategy for the qualification and quantification of monosaccharides in urine using two structure analogs 1-(4-methylphenyl)-3-methyl-5-pyrazolone (MPMP) and1-phenyl-3-methyl-5-pyrazolone (PMP) as non-isotopically paired labeling (NIPL) reagents by liquid chromatograph-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The derivatized monosaccharides by NIPL method not only had sufficient retention time differences on reversed-phase column, but also exhibited predominant product ion pairs ( m/z 189 & m/z 175) in the multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode. In this method, PMP labeled standards were adopted as one-to-one internal standards (ISs). 12 urinary monosaccharides were successfully determined and the linear ranges expanded five orders of magnitude with limit of quantification (LOQ) varied from 0.09 ng mL −1 to 0.36 ng mL −1 as well as the accuracy higher than 98.15% and the relative standard derivation (RSD) lower than 7.92%. With assistance of multivariate analysis, the targeted monosaccharide biomarkers were firstly obtained for the diagnosis of bladder cancer. By the inexpensive NIPL reagents—MPMP/PMP, the developed strategy possessed the specific advantages of low cost, simple operation, high sensitivity and high accuracy for the qualification and quantitation of monosaccharides. As expected, this method will provide an alternative application potential for targeted metabolomics analysis.