Rapid determination of 20-hydroxyecdysteroids in complex mixtures by solid-phase extraction and mass spectrometry

Abstract Ecdysteroids possessing a 20,22-diol group react smoothly with arylboronic acids. Cyclic boronates formed in this reaction are stable towards moisture. The changed chromatographic properties of ecdysteroid boronates in comparison with free ecdysteroids allow the efficiency of sample prepurification to be improved using solid-phase extraction. Parent ecdysteroids can easily be released from their boronates by hydrogen peroxide. A rapid and efficient method for the determination of ecdysteroids in samples of biological origin based on solid-phase extraction and fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry is described.