LC-MS/MS is one of the key processes in the drug discovery and development process which facilitates the identification of new pharmaceutical drug candidates by screening different chemical libraries for small molecules, natural products or their extracts. 

Rapid developments made throughout the tandem liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry have resulted in the generation of broader interests in the applications of small molecular mixture analysis. MS/MS spectral analysis is preferred for obtaining rich structural information. However, different data acquisitions methods and structural diversity of the small molecules, there is an increasing focus for re-directing the analysis algorithms and workflows in accordance with the research-based questions. 

Enabling the analysis of small molecule mixtures, the LC-MS/MS technology finds its applicability across different sectors such as metabolomics, medicine, and molecular characterization of your small molecule samples. The recent advances introduced to the field of LC-MS/MS instrumentation has been translated into falling costs of your small molecule analysis, thereby widening the scope of lc ms method. 

LC-MS/MS system facilitates sample analysis that are otherwise difficult to be analyzed. This includes expanding the use of the effective analytical technique of mass spectrometry across a much more extensive range of organic compounds. Thus, LCMS assay is suitable for analyzing your large, polar, thermally unstable, ionic, and involatile compounds. 

LC-MS Method for identification and Profiling of Drug impurity –

Both the identification and impurity profiling are critical factors for assuring efficacy of the pharmaceutical product and patient safety information. The different regulatory authorities have established rigorous and clear guidelines for dictating the identification of several drug impurities across different levels. For the analysis of the small molecules, Liquid Chromatography is the most reliable and efficient analytical technique. This analytical technique is valid both for separation and characterization of the drug components, thereby serving as the prime workhorse for profiling drug impurities. 

One of the main challenges here is the elucidation of the drug’s structure with the help of the LC-MS method using non-volatile buffer solutions. These are non-amendable for MS ionization and are often essential for isolating your compound of interest. Two-dimensional LC-MS assay can be used for overcoming such issues and is accompanied by an additional advantage of achieving an improved chromatographic resolution. 

Broader applicability of LC-MS method across the pharmaceutical industry has been continuously achieved through introducing various improvements both in LC and MS sections, respectively. First and the foremost step in this direction was the introduction of the UHPLC – Ultra-High-Performance Liquid Chromatography. High efficiency of the UHPLC technique facilitates significant improvements throughout the peak capacity and effective short running times. 

However, still, there is an increasing challenge for achieving a higher resolution and accurate mass systems for providing a sufficient number of scans across different aspects of chromatographic peaks throughout the full scan mode. This is achieved without compromising either the sensitivity or the resolving power. 

Applications of LC-MS assay for siderophore analysis – 

In recent times, the LC-MS/MS has found broader applicability across the discovery and structural characterization of the peptide siderophores. Siderophores are usually the secondary metabolites which are produced and released by many classes of fungi and bacteria. The siderophore structural database provides information regarding the structural diversity of the siderophores. 

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