# US 2019/0170774 A1 · Detection of vitamins a and e by tandem mass spectrometry

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- Number: US 2019/0170774 A1
- Document ID: US20190170774A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 16/270,997
- Filed: 2019-02-08
- Published: 2019-06-06
- Earliest claimed: 2010-09-15
- Assignees: Quest Diagnostics Investments Incorporated
- Applicants: Quest Diagnostics Investments Incorporated
- Inventors: Sum CHAN; Qibo JIANG
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20190170774A1

## CPC

- G01N 33/82: involving vitamins {or their receptors}
- G01N 33/48: Biological material, e.g. blood, urine (G01N33/02, G01N33/26, G01N33/44, G01N33/46 take precedence); Haemocytometers (counting blood corpuscules distributed over a surface by scanning the surface G06M11/02)
- G01N 2560/00: Chemical aspects of mass spectrometric analysis of biological material
- H01J 49/0045: {characterised by the fragmentation or other specific reaction}
- Y10T 436/24: Nuclear magnetic resonance, electron spin resonance or other spin effects or mass spectrometry
- G01N: INVESTIGATING OR ANALYSING MATERIALS BY DETERMINING THEIR CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES (measuring or testing apparatus or processes other than immunoassay, involving enzymes or microorganisms C12M, C12Q)
- H01J: ELECTRIC DISCHARGE TUBES OR DISCHARGE LAMPS (spark-gaps H01T; electric arc lamps H05B31/00; particle accelerators H05H)
- Y10T: TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER US CLASSIFICATION

## Abstract

Methods are described for measuring the amount of one or more of vitamin A, α-tocopherol, and the combination of β-tocopherol and γ-tocopherol in a sample. More specifically, mass spectrometric methods are described for detecting and quantifying one or more of vitamin A, α-tocopherol, and the combination of β-tocopherol and γ-tocopherol in a sample.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method for determining the amount of vitamin A in a sample by mass spectrometry, said method comprising:
a. ionizing vitamin A from a sample to produce one or more vitamin A ions detectable by mass spectrometry; and
b. determining the amount of one or more of said Vitamin A ions by mass spectrometry;
wherein the amount of the one or more ions determined in step (b) is related to the amount of vitamin A in the sample.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the mass spectrometry is tandem mass spectrometry.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the mass spectrometry comprises fragmenting a vitamin A precursor ion having a mass to charge ratio of about 269.30±0.80 into one or more fragment ions comprising a fragment ion having a mass to charge ratio of about 105.00±0.80

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1 wherein the sample is subjected to liquid chromatography (LC) prior to ionization.

### Claim 5 (depends on 4)

The method of claim 4, wherein said LC is reverse phase LC.

### Claim 6 (depends on 4)

The method of claim 4, wherein said LC and said ionization are conducted with on-line processing.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1 wherein the sample is subjected to high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) prior to ionization.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein said ionization comprises ionization with an atmospheric chemical ionization (APCI) source.

### Claim 9 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the sample comprises a biological sample.

### Claim 10 (depends on 9)

The method of claim 9, wherein the biological sample is from a human patient suspected of having a deficiency or an excess of vitamin A.

### Claim 11 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the sample comprises serum or plasma.

### Claim 12 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the mass spectrometry is conducted by multiple reaction monitoring, precursor ion scanning, or product ion scanning.

### Claim 13 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, the method further comprising determining the amount of one or more additional analytes simultaneously with the determination of the amount of vitamin A.

### Claim 14 (depends on 13)

The method of claim 13, wherein the one or more additional analytes comprises one or more of α-tocopherol, β-tocopherol, and γ-tocopherol.

### Claim 15 (depends on 13)

The method of claim 13, wherein the one or more additional analytes comprises α-tocopherol, and determining the amount of α-tocopherol comprises fragmenting an α-tocopherol precursor ion having a mass to charge ratio of about 430.47±0.80 into one or more fragment ions comprising a fragment ion having a mass to charge ratio of about 165.03±0.80.

### Claim 16 (depends on 13)

The method of claim 13, wherein the one or more additional analytes comprises combined β-tocopherol and γ-tocopherol, and determining the amount of combined β-tocopherol and γ-tocopherol comprises fragmenting β-tocopherol and γ-tocopherol precursor ions having a mass to charge ratio of about 416.35±0.80 into one or more fragment ions comprising a fragment ion having a mass to charge ratio of about 151.00±0.80.

### Claim 17 (depends on 13)

The method of claim 13, wherein the one or more additional analytes comprises α-tocopherol and combined β-tocopherol and γ-tocopherol.