Direct silylation of Trypanosoma brucei metabolites in aqueous samples and their GC–MS/MS analysis

•Direct silylation of polar compounds in aqueous samples was developed.•Simultaneous silylation of glucose and alanine was obtained.•Method was applied for the GC–MS/MS analysis of protozoa metabolites.

A simple two-step method for the derivatization of polar compounds (lactate, alanine, glycerol, succinate and glucose) using hexamethyldisilazane (HMDS) and N,O-bis(trimethylsilyl)trifluoroacetamide (BSTFA) was developed. This method allows direct derivatization of aqueous samples wihout sample pretreatment. The method was used for the analysis of the metabolites of the unicellular organism Trypanosoma brucei. The limits of detection by GC–MS/MS analysis were in the range of 0.02 mgL−1 for glucose to 0.85 mgL−1 for lactate.