(S)-1-(4-Dimethylaminophenylcarbonyl)-3-aminopyrrolidine: A derivatization reagent for enantiomeric separation and sensitive detection of chiral carboxylic acids by LC/ESI-MS/MS

•A novel derivatization reagent, 1-DAPAP, was developed for chiral carboxylic acids.•Based on the derivatization, the ESI-MS/MS response was increased by 10–1100-fold.•The derivatization enabled the enantiomeric separation on a conventional ODS column.•The derivatization was successfully applied to biological sample analyses.

A novel derivatization reagent, (S)-1-(4-dimethylaminophenylcarbonyl)-3-aminopyrrolidine (1-DAPAP), was developed for increasing the detection sensitivity and enantiomeric separation of chiral carboxylic acids by liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization–tandem mass spectrometry (LC/ESI-MS/MS). 1-DAPAP reacted with carboxylic acids at room temperature within 5 min in the presence of 4-(4,6-dimethoxy-1,3,5-triazin-2-yl)-4-methylmorpholinium chloride. The epimerization (racemization) during the derivatization reaction was negligible. The resulting derivatives were highly responsive during the ESI-MS operating in the positive-ion mode and gave a characteristic product ion during the MS/MS, which enabled the sensitive detection using selected reaction monitoring; the detection responses of the 1-DAPAP-derivatives were increased by 10–1100-fold over the intact carboxylic acids and the limits of detection ranged from 0.97 and 5.2 fmol on the column. The 1-DAPAP-derivatization was also effective for the enantiomeric separation of chiral carboxylic acids; the resolution values were 1.2–4.3 for the evaluated carboxylic acids. The derivatization procedure was successfully applied to biological sample analyses; the derivatization followed by LC/ESI-MS/MS enabled the separation and detection of trace amounts of ibuprofen and naproxen in human saliva with a simple pretreatment and small sample volume.