An expedient one-pot entry to catecholestrogens and other catechol compounds via IBX-mediated phenolic oxygenation

A one-pot procedure for the preparation of catecholestrogens in over 90% yield is reported, involving oxygenation of 17β-estradiol or estrone with o-iodoxybenzoic acid (IBX) followed by reduction with methanolic NaBH₄. The procedure, which was extended to the o-hydroxylation of a number of representative phenols in good-to-high yields, expands significantly the scope of phenolic oxidation mediated by IBX.     

Immunosensor for estrone with an equal limit of detection as common analytical methods

Immunoanalytical methods at a very low limit of detection (LOD) and a low limit of quantification (LOQ) are becoming more and more important for environmental analysis and especially for monitoring drinking water quality. Biosensors have suitable characteristics such as efficiency in allowing very fast, sensitive, and cost-effective detection. Here we describe a fully automated immunoassay for estrone with a LOD below 0.20 ng L^–1 and a LOQ below 1.40 ng L^–1. In contrast to common analytical methods such as GC-MS or HPLC-MS, the biosensor used requires no sample pre-treatment and pre-concentration. The basis of our sensitive assay is the antibody with a high affinity constant towards estrone. The very low amount of antibody per sample results in low validation parameters (LOD, LOQ, and IC50), but this assay for estrone represents the current device-related limitation of the River Analyser (RIANA).     

分散固相萃取净化与液相色谱/串联质谱法测定牛奶中8类禁用药物残留

建立了牛奶中8类禁用药物的液相色谱-串联质谱( LC- MS/MS)检测方法.分析物包括5种硝基咪唑、7种β-受体激动剂、9种雄性激素、7种糖皮质激素、3种雌性激素、2种镇静剂、1种氯霉素以及6种二羟基苯甲酸内酯共40种禁用药物.样品以β葡萄糖苷醛酶/芳基硫酸酯酶在乙酸铵缓冲液中酶解,用氨化和酸化乙腈各提取一次.提取液经改良的分散固相萃取(QuEChERS)净化,浓缩后采用C18色谱柱分离(150 mm×2.1 mm i.d.,3.0 um).以甲醇和水(含0.1％甲酸)、乙腈和水分别作为正、负电喷雾离子化模式的色谱分离流动相进行梯度洗脱,多反应监测模式进行定性和定量分析.7种药物以内标法定量;33种药物以基质标准曲线外标法定量,氯霉素在0.02～0.4μg/kg; 39种药物在0.20～ 10.0 μg/kg范围内相关系数(r)均大于0.99;定量限(S/N=10)在0.07～0.93 μg/kg之间.分别以各个药物0.5,1和2倍MRPL( Minimum required performance limits)浓度水平加标验证实验,回收率范围60.3％～119.3％范围;相对标准偏差小于18.9％.     

衍生-气相色谱-质谱法测定水中痕量雌激素

提出了气相色谱-质谱法测定水中雌二醇、雌酮、雌三醇、戊酸雌二醇、己烯雌酚、乙炔雌二醇、双酚A和壬基酚等8种雌激素含量的方法。样品经乙酸乙酯提取和HLB小柱净化后,所得净化液中的雌激素与三甲基硅基化剂(TMS)或七氟丁酸酐(HFBA)进行衍生化反应产物用正己烷定容。在气相色谱分离中用DB-5MS毛细管柱为固定相,在质谱分析中采用全扫描和选择离子监测模式。8种雌激素的峰面积与质量浓度在20.0～1 000μg.L-1范围内呈线性关系,检出限(3S/N)在0.1～0.5μg.L-1之间。方法用于水中雌激素的测定,回收率在71%～103%之间,相对标准偏差(n=6)在4.2%～15%之间。     

A DFT Study on Estrone – TNT Interaction

Trinitrotoluene, known as TNT, is a widely used powerful explosive. It is a poisonous material, which injures almost all cells, especially those of liver, bone marrow, and kidney. Estrone is a sex hormone having an electron rich aromatic (phenolic) ring that is capable of forming a π complex with molecules containing an electron deficient π system. This study has focused on investigating the tendency of the complex formation of TNT with estrone. It has been thought that the formation of estrone‐TNT π complex might take place in a human body exposed to acute or prolong period of this hazardous chemical and consequently estrone activities might be impaired. The complex formation reaction was investigated mainly using DFT method with B3LYP/6‐31G(d, p) basis set in gas phase. The existence of π interaction between estrone and TNT was demonstrated by computational spectroscopic analyses (UV/Vis, IR, and ¹H NMR techniques). The frontier molecular orbital (HOMO and LUMO) analyses have shown that the considered π complex is very resistant to oxidation with respect to its components, estrone and TNT.     

Determination of estrogens in environmental water samples using 1,3‐dipentylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate ionic liquid as extraction solvent in dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction

In this work, the potential of a symmetric dialkyl‐substituted ionic liquid (IL), 1,3‐dipenthylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate ([PPIm][PF₆]), as extraction solvent in dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction (DLLME) has been studied for the analysis of a group of three natural (estriol, 17β‐estradiol, and 17α‐estradiol) and four synthetic (17α‐ethynylestradiol, diethylstibestrol, dienestrol, and hexestrol) estrogenic compounds as well as one mycotoxin with estrogenic activity (zearalenone) in different types of water samples (Milli‐Q, mineral, and wastewater). Separation, determination, and quantification were developed by HPLC‐DAD and a fluorescence detector (FD) connected in series. Factors influencing the IL‐DLLME procedure (sample pH, amount of IL, type and volume of disperser solvent, ionic strength, and assistance of vortex agitation) were investigated and optimized by means of a step‐by‐step approach. Once the optimum extraction conditions were established (10 mL of water at pH 8, 60 mg of [PPIm][PF₆], 500 μL of ACN as disperser solvent and vortex agitation for 1 min), the calibration curves of the whole method (IL‐DLLME‐HPLC‐DAD/FD) were obtained and precision and accuracy were evaluated. It was demonstrated that the developed methodology was repeatable, accurate, and selective with limits of detection in the 0.30–0.57 μg/L and 13.8–37.1 μg/L range for FD and DAD, respectively. Relative recovery values were higher than 85% for the different types of water samples and the Student's t test demonstrated that there were not significant differences between the added and the found concentration.     

四级杆飞行时间串联质谱高通量筛查鱼肉中的药物残留

建立了以QuEChERS样品预处理方法、四级杆飞行时间串联质谱(Q-TOF MS)为检测手段,针对鱼肉中的四环素类、磺胺类、喹诺酮类、三苯甲烷类、雄激素、孕激素和糖皮质激素7类59种残留药物的快速筛查技术。通过正交实验得到优化条件为:Na2EDTA-Mcllvaine为缓冲溶液,乙腈为提取剂,净化剂无水MgSO4、十八烷基键合硅胶(C18)和N-丙基乙二胺(PSA)的用量分别为每毫升提取液加入25,12.5和6.25 mg。对Q-TOF质谱筛查出的阳性样品,再用LC-MS/MS对样品进行确证。本方法对59种药物的检出下限为0.5~5.3μg/kg。本方法快速、简单、可靠,可筛查的渔药种类覆盖面广,灵敏度满足水产品药物残留检测的要求,适用于鱼类水产品中残留药物的快速测定。     

Liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry determination of free and conjugated estrogens in breast cancer patients before and after exemestane treatment

We report liquid chromatographic separation with tandem mass spectrometry determination of 12 endogenous estrogens and their intact conjugates in blood and urine and its application to study effects of exemestane treatment on estrogen generation and metabolism in postmenopausal women with estrogen-dependent breast cancer. A 0.5 mL aliquot of each urine or serum sample is fractionated with solid phase extraction to a fraction of free estrogen and another fraction of their conjugates. The reversed phase LC/MS/MS determines dansylated estrogens with positive ionization and intact conjugates with negative ionization. The method provides reproducible separation and limit of detection as low as 1 pg mL⁻¹ for free estrogens and 0.03 ng mg⁻¹ creatinine for the conjugates in serum and urine samples. The method enabled us to acquire unique concentration profiles of 12 endogenous estrogens and their intact conjugates in 30 breast cancer patients before and after one month of exemestane treatment. Exemestane suppressed total serum and urinary estrogens by 11–97% (P < 0.0001) and 8.7–91% (P < 0.0001), respectively. Specifically, these data show that exemestane preferentially suppressed E1, E1-3S, E1-3G, and E2-17G more than other estrogens. Linear regression analysis of estrogen concentrations before and after treatment showed correlation coefficients of 0.8385 (n = 289, P < 0.0001) and 0.8863 (n = 360, P < 0.0001). This study provides urinary and blood estrogen concentration profiles in breast cancer patients to demonstrate the effect of exemestane on estrogen generation, supporting inhibition of aromatase activity.     

Comparative study of analytical methods involving gas chromatography-mass spectrometry after derivatization and gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry for the determination of selected endocrine disrupting compounds in wastewaters

Two GC-MS methods, based on the application of N,O-bis(trimethylsilyl)trifluoroacetamide-derivatization-GC-MS (selected-ion monitoring) and GC-MS-MS without derivatization, respectively, were optimised and applied to the determination of a group of five selected endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) in wastewaters. Both methods included solid-phase extraction with Oasis HLB cartridges allowing an enrichment factor for wastewater samples of 100-fold. The investigated EDCs were estrone, 17beta-estradiol, 17alpha-ethynylestradiol, 4-tert-octylphenol and bisphenol A. Results obtained from the validation studies yielded comparable results in both cases. Recoveries in spiked wastewaters at 50 ng/l were higher than 90% for all the compounds, except for 4-tert-octylphenol (75%). Repeatability and reproducibility were adequate, varying from 1.6 to 14%, except for estrone which reproducibility was 28% when the derivatization-GC-MS method was applied. Limits of detection calculated ranged from 2.5 to 27.5 ng/l with differences between both methods from 1.1 (estrone) to 10.4 (bisphenol A) times. Both methods were successfully applied to the analysis of the target compounds in sewage treatment plant influents and effluents. Traces of bisphenol A, 4-tert-octylphenol, estrone and 17beta-estradiol were detected at concentration levels ranging from 13.3 to 1105.2 ng/l.     

Measurement of endogenous estrogens: analytical challenges and recent advances

Recent developments in the analysis of endogenous estrogens (including both free and conjugated estrogens) are reviewed. Largely due to urging by some cancer researchers, new demands are now being placed on such measurements in terms of sensitivity, throughput, multi-analyte detection and accuracy. Especially high sensitivity is required for detecting estrogens in serum from postmenopausal women, children and men, where concentrations at the low pg/ml level are encountered, and one would prefer to test much less than 1 ml of serum. Aside from throughput, meeting all of these demands may be beyond the reach of immunoassay, the method that has created and continues to dominate this field. Both HPLC and GC versions of mass spectrometry are emerging that have some potential to improve the testing of physiological samples for endogenous estrogens. The following topics are covered in this review: related analyses (e.g. detection of estrogens in environmental samples such as water, where 1-l samples can be collected to provide ng amounts of estrogens); structure and metabolism of estrogens; biological actions (with an emphasis on their role in cancer); immunoassays; HPLC with electrochemical detection; GC-ECD; and various forms of mass spectrometry.