Stop-flow comprehensive two-dimensional liquid chromatography combined with mass spectrometric detection for phospholipid analysis

A novel comprehensive two-dimensional liquid chromatographic (LC×LC) system for characterization
of phospholipid (PL) molecular species belonging to six phospholipid classes was developed. To tackle
such a task, a silica hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC) column was used as the first
dimension (1D), and reversed-phase liquid chromatography (RP-LC) with a C18 column was used as the second dimension (2D) in combination with mass spectrometric detection. Fraction transfer from the 1D to the 2D was performed by means of a two-position ten-port switching valve, operated under stop-flow conditions. The capability of the investigated LC ×LC approach was demonstrated in the separation of
phospholipid molecular species contained in two Folch-extracted cow’s milk and plasma samples. Within
the phosphatidylcholine class, up to 16 and 14 different species were identified, respectively, by means
of the HILIC × RP-LC–MS system employed under both positive and negative ionization mode.