GLCMass Spectrometry of Several Important Anticancer Drugs I: Pertrimethylsilylation and O-Methoxime Formation

Procedures are reported for the formation of pertrimethylsilyl and pertrimethylsilyl methoxime derivatives of the aglycones of doxorubicin, daunorubicin, carminomycin, chromomycin Aa, and mithramycin. The mass spectra are consistent with the formation of these derivatives. Fragmentation patterns highly specific for these derivatives are proposed, and the potential application for the identification of metabolites of these compounds is discussed.