Quantification of Fructo-Oligosaccharides Based on the Evaluation of Oligomer Ratios using an Artificial Neural Network

Investor logo

Warning

This publication doesn't include Faculty of Arts. It includes Faculty of Science. Official publication website can be found on muni.cz.
Authors

ONOFREJOVÁ Lucia FARKOVÁ Marta PREISLER Jan

Year of publication 2009
Type Article in Periodical
Magazine / Source Analytica Chimica Acta
MU Faculty or unit

Faculty of Science

Citation
Field Analytic chemistry
Keywords quantification; artificial neural networks (ANN); matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI TOF MS); fructo-oligosaccharides; internal standard
Description The application of an internal standard in quantitative analysis is desirable in order to correct for variations in sample preparation and instrumental response. In mass spectrometry of organic compounds, the internal standard is preferably labelled with a stable isotope, such as 18O, 15N or 13C. In this study, a method for the quantification of fructo-oligosaccharides using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI TOF MS) was proposed and tested on raftilose, a partially hydrolysed inulin with a degree of polymeration 2-7. A tetraoligosaccharide nystose, which is chemically identical to the raftilose tetramer, was used as an internal standard rather than an isotope-labelled analyte. Two mathematical approaches used for data processing, conventional calculations and artificial neural networks (ANN), were compared. The conventional data processing relies on the assumption that a constant oligomer dispersion profile will change after the addition of the internal standard and some simple numerical calculations. On the other hand, ANN was found to compensate for a non-linear MALDI response and variations in the oligomer dispersion profile with raftilose concentration. As a result, the application of ANN led to lower quantification errors and excellent day-to-day repeatability compared to the conventional data analysis. The developed method is feasible for MS quantification of raftilose in the range of 10-750 pg with errors below 7 %. The content of raftilose was determined in dietary cream; application can be extended to other similar polymers. It should be stressed that no special optimisation of the MALDI process was carried out. A common MALDI matrix and sample preparation were used and only the basic parameters, such as sampling and laser energy, were optimised prior to quantification.
Related projects:

You are running an old browser version. We recommend updating your browser to its latest version.