Negative ion tandem mass spectrometry of leukotriene E4, and LTE 4, metabolites: Identification of LTE 4, in human urine.

The sulfidopeptide leukotrienes, leukotriene E4, (LTE4,) and its N-acetyl derivative and several ω- and β-oxidized metabolites of LTE4, have been analyzed by tandem mass spectrometry. [M-H](-) ions were produced by continuous flow fast atom bombardment, and collision-induced dissociation of these ions was studied by using a triple quadrupole instrument. The product ion spectra obtained were characteristic of the structure of LTE4, and mechanisms of ion formation were investigated by using deuterated compounds. β-Elimination of the peptide portion of LTE4, by loss of CO2, and ethylene amine leaves the C-l carboxyl group ionized in the most abundant fragment ion for LTE4, and all metabolites. Tandem mass spectrometry of fast atom bombardment-generated anions from ω- and β-oxidized metabolites of LTE4, produced similar ions with only a minor influence of the third carboxyl group at the omega terminus evident. Tandem mass spectrometry was used to identify unequivocally the presence of unmodified LTE4, in a high performance liquid chromatography-purified fraction of urine from a normal healthy volunteer after infusion with LTE4.