Quantitative analysis of intracellular coenzymes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae using ion pair reversed phase ultra high performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry

• Intracellular coenzymes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae were quantified using LC–MS/MS.
• Uniformly 13C labeled metabolites were used as internal standards.
• CoA was measured in its reduced form using TCEP as reducing reagent.
• Ion pair reagent enhanced signal intensities of phosphorylated metabolites.

A fast, sensitive and specific analytical method, based on ion pair reversed phase ultrahigh performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry, IP-RP-UHPLC-MS/MS, was developed for quantitative determination of intracellular coenzyme A (CoA), acetyl CoA, succinyl CoA, phenylacetyl CoA, flavin mononucleotide, (FMN), flavin adenine dinucleotide, (FAD), NAD, NADH, NADP, NADPH. Dibutylammonium acetate (DBAA) was used as volatile ion pair reagent in the mobile phase. Addition of DBAA to the sample solutions resulted in an enhanced sensitivity for the phosphorylated coenzymes. Tris (2-carboxyethyl) phosphine hydrochloride (TCEP·HCl), was added to keep CoA in the reduced form. Isotope dilution mass spectrometry (IDMS) was applied for quantitative measurements for which culture derived global U-13C-labeled cell extract was used as internal standard. The analytical method was validated by determining the limit of detection, the limit of quantification, repeatability and intermediate precision. The method was successfully applied for quantification of coenzymes in the cell extracts of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.