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In this work, an analytical method based on solid-phase extraction (SPE) followed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry analysis (LC-MS/MS) has been developed for the selective determination of thyroxine (T4) in human serum. For this purpose, two immunosorbents (ISs) specific to T4 were synthesized by grafting two different T4-specific monoclonal antibodies on a cyanogen bromide (CNBr)-activated-Sepharose® 4B solid support. The grafting yields obtained from the immobilization of each antibody on the CNBr-activated-Sepharose® 4B were over 90%, demonstrating that most of the antibodies were covalently bound to the solid support. The SPE procedure was optimized by studying the retention capability and selectivity of the two ISs in pure media fortified with T4. Under the optimized conditions, high elution efficiencies were achieved in the elution fraction for both specific ISs (i.e., 85%), whereas low ones were obtained in the control ISs (ca. 2%), showing the selectivity of the specific ISs. The ISs were also characterized by studying extraction and synthesis repeatability (RSD <8%), and capacity (104 ng of T4 per 35 mg of ISs, i.e., 3 μg g -1 ). Finally, the methodology was applied to a pooled human serum sample in order to study its analytical utility and accuracy. Relative recovery (RR) values between 81 and 107% were obtained, showing no matrix effects during the global methodology. Furthermore, the need to perform the immunoextraction was evidenced by comparing the LC-MS scan chromatograms and RR values with and without applying the immunoextraction procedure on a serum sample submitted to protein precipitation. This works exploits, for the first time, the use of an IS on the selective determination of T4 in human serum samples., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Alkyl methyl phosphonic acids (AMPAs) are the major metabolites of organophosphorus nerve agents. A method based on the use of natural hydrophobic deep eutectic solvents as supported liquid membrane in parallel artificial liquid microextraction (PALME) combined with LC-MS/MS analysis was developed and applied to their extraction from urine samples. PALME is a miniaturized liquid-phase extraction method performed in a multiwell plate format where the aqueous sample and the aqueous acceptor phase are separated by a flat membrane impregnated with an organic solvent. In this study, we investigated the possibility of replacing the harmful conventional organic solvent by an emerging green solvent, a coumarin/thymol-based deep eutectic solvent, in ordered to raise the greenness of the sample preparation method. Linear response was obtained in an interval of 0.5, 5 or 10-100 ng/ml depending on the AMPAs with a determination coefficients (R 2 s) ranging from 0.9751 to 0.9989 for their determination in not treated urine samples. Enrichment factors (EFs) up to 12.65 were obtained, and repeatability was within 8.90-16.28% RSD (n = 12). The limit of quantifications (LOQs: S/N ≥ 10) of the whole analytical procedure were in the range from 0.04 to 5.35 ng/ml. In addition to its good sensitivity, the presented method permitted the treatment of 192 samples in 120 min (equivalent to 37.5 s/sample), which places it as one of the most powerful preparation technique for biomonitoring of civilian or military people exposed to nerve agents in case of public health emergency. Indeed, the developed procedure combined sensitivity, high-throughput, greenness, simplicity and practicality for the determination of five acidic polar AMPAs in urine samples., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

As a highly alkylating chemical warfare agent, sulfur mustard reacts with blood proteins such as hemoglobin to form long-lived hydroxyethylthioethyl adducts that can be used as biomarkers of exposure. An optimized method was developed for the extraction of hemoglobin from blood samples. This procedure, involving the hemolysis of the red blood cells by freezing at -80 °C in two cycles of 1 h, followed by the purification of the lysate by ultrafiltration on 100 and 50 kDa cutoff centrifugal devices, was then applied to the extraction of hemoglobin from blood samples spiked with sulfur mustard at different concentrations (ranging from 0.014 to 28 µg mL -1 ). More than 75% of the protein was extracted from the blood samples and the method demonstrated a satisfying repeatability, with a RSD of 12.6%. The extracted hemoglobin was then digested on-line on a laboratory-made trypsin IMER coupled with the analysis by liquid chromatography hyphenated with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) of the resulting alkylated peptides. A linear response was observed for the 13 alkylated peptides targeted for the sulfur mustard concentration range studied, with RSD down to 0.1% for the digestion repeatabilty. The limit of quantification of the method was estimated to be 0.4 ng mL -1 as concentration of exposure to sulfur mustard in whole blood. Finally, a variation of the alkylation rates of hemoglobin was observed between the biological matrix and pure sample, since the preferential adduction sites in blood were the residues β-His 97 and β-Val 98 , both located on the alkylated peptide β-T11, while for purified hemoglobin in water, the residue β-His 77 was the main adduction site. Thus, even though blood samples require an additional sample treatment step compared to pure standards, carrying out the study with whole blood allowed to collect information that are more representative of the phenomena occurring in the organism upon exposure to sulfur mustard., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Sulfur mustard reacts with blood proteins, such as hemoglobin, to form stable adducts that can be used as long-lived biomarkers of exposure. These adducts can be analyzed by liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass-spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) after an enzymatic digestion step. The objective of this study was to develop trypsin-based immobilized enzyme reactors (IMERs) in order to obtain a faster digestion of hemoglobin than the conventional in-solution digestion. Trypsin IMERs were synthetized by grafting the enzyme on a CNBr-Sepharose gel and the influence of several parameters on the digestion yields, such as the transfer volume between the injection loop and the IMER, the temperature and the digestion time was studied. The repeatability of the digestion on three laboratory-made IMERs was demonstrated for pure hemoglobin and hemoglobin previously exposed to different concentrations of sulfur mustard (RSD inferior to 13% and 21% respectively) and was better than that obtained for in-solution digestions (RSD inferior to 28% and up to 53% respectively). A preferential adduction of sulfur mustard on the histidine residues of hemoglobin was confirmed, for both in-solution and IMER digestion results. On a quantitative point of view, the performances of in-solution and IMER digestions were similar, with the theoretical possibility to detect peptides resulting from the in vitro incubation of hemoglobin in pure water with sulfur mustard at 7.5 ng⋅mL -1 . However, digestion on IMER proved to be more repeatable and 32 times faster than in-solution digestion, and a given IMER could be reused at least 60 times., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) protein belongs to a family of glycoprotein hormones called gonadotropins. It is a heterodimer made of two non-covalently linked subunits. The α-subunit structure, hCGα, has 2 N-glycosylation sites, while the beta subunit, hCGβ, has 2 N- and 4 O-glycosylation sites. This leads to numerous glycoforms. A method based on the analysis of hCG glycoforms at the intact level by nano-reversed phase liquid chromatography coupled to high resolution mass spectrometry (nanoLC-HRMS) with an Orbitrap analyzer was previously developed using a recombinant hCG-based drug, Ovitrelle®, as standard. It allowed the detection of about 30 hCGα glycoforms, but didn't allow the detection of hCGβ glycoforms. This method was thus here significantly modified (addition of a pre-concentration step of the sample to increase the sample volume from 70 nl to 1 µl, optimization of the gradient slope and the nature and content of the acidic additive in the mobile phase). It led to an improvement of the separation of hCGα and hCGβ glycoforms, which allowed for the first time the detection of 33 hCGβ glycoforms at intact level. In addition, a higher number of hCGα glycoforms (42 in total, i.e. a 40% increase) was detected. The figures of merit of this new method were next assessed. The relative standard deviations (RSDs) of the retention time ranged between 0.02 and 0.95% (n = 3), with an average value of 0.36% for the alpha glycoforms and between 0.01 and 1.08% (n = 3) with an average value of 0.23% for the beta glycoforms. The RSDs of the relative peak area measured on the extracted ion chromatogram of each glycoform were below 20% (n = 3), with an average value of 9.8%, thus allowing semi-relative quantification. Therefore, this method has a high potential for rapid quality control aiming for the detection and comparison of glycoforms present in glycoprotein-based pharmaceutical preparations., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Sulfur mustard is a highly reactive chemical warfare agent that causes severe damages to the victims exposed by alkylating multiple biomolecules such as proteins. Resulting alkylated products can be used as biomarkers of exposure to this chemical agent. A liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method was thus developed to detect alkylated peptides after the tryptic digestion of hemoglobin (50 mg.mL -1 ) incubated with sulfur mustard at different concentrations (0.25, 0.5, 1, 10 and 100 µg.mL -1 ). Five new alkylation sites were accurately identified on the protein (α-His 72 , α-His 87 , α-His 89 , β-His 2 and β-Val 98 ) and fifteen adducted peptides were detected, among which eight of them resulted from the alkylation of four peptides, each presenting two potential sites of adduction that could be discriminated by the method specificity. Similarly, it was possible to discriminate the three potential adduction sites of the peptide α-T9. Moreover, the method allowed the quantification of all the alkylated peptides with a satisfying repeatability, with RSD ranging from 0.5 to 9.3% for an exposure of hemoglobin to sulfur mustard at 100 µg.mL -1 . The analysis of hemoglobin incubated with different concentrations of sulfur mustard levels led to a linear response for all the alkylated peptides with the studied concentrations (0.25, 0.5, 1, 10 and 100 µg.mL -1 ). A variation of the alkylation rate was also observed between the different peptides studied, with a preferential adduction of sulfur mustard on the histidine residues but also on the N-terminal valine residues of both globin chains and on the Val 98 residue of globin β. Furthermore, the presented method proved to be sensitive, with a theoretical possibility to detect alkylated peptides resulting from in vitro incubation of hemoglobin in deionized water with sulfur mustard at 2.63 ng.mL -1 . After further development, this method could potentially be used for the analysis of blood samples in vivo exposed to sulfur mustard., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

A molecularly imprinted polymer was synthesized and characterized to be used as solid-phase extraction sorbent for simultaneous chlorpyrifos and diazinon and their oxon derivatives. Several imprinted polymers were prepared and evaluated in a retention study of these analytes compared with a non-printed polymer. Several parameters affecting the extraction of imprinted polymer such as washing solvent, composition and volume of the eluting solvent and sample volume, were also investigated. Under the optimum conditions, the developed method provided satisfactory limits of detection ranging between 0.07 µg L -1 to 0.12 µg L -1 and the material showed an excellent reusability (> 50 reuses). The method was applied to the extraction and preconcentration of these analytes in water samples. The average recoveries ranged from 79 ± 6 to 104 ± 3 %., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

The aim of this work was to prepare and evaluate molecularly imprinted polymers obtained by a sol-gel approach for the selective solid-phase extraction (SPE) of organophosphorus pesticides (OPs) from almond oil. The performances of molecularly imprinted silicas (MISs), prepared using different conditions of synthesis, were studied by applying different extraction procedures in order to determine the ability of the MISs to selectively extract ten target OPs. For this, the retention of OPs on MISs in pure media was compared with the retention on a non-imprinted silicas (NISs), used as control sorbent, to prove the presence of specific cavities. The most promising MIS allowed the selective extraction of the 3 most polar OPs among the 10 studied. The capacity was studied and the repeatability of the extraction recovery yield was demonstrated both in pure and real media. This MIS was able to selectively extract fenthion sulfoxide and dimethoate contained in almond oil extract after applying the optimized extraction procedure with recovery yields between 100 and 114%. The estimated limit of quantification (LOQ, S/N = 10), thanks to LC/MS analysis in MRM mode, between 1.2 and 4.6 μg/kg for those OPs in the almond fruits, was more than 10 times lower than the Maximum Residue Levels (MRLs) established by the European Commission. This MIS therefore shows a high potential for the analysis of those two polar OPs at trace levels from almond oils., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Human butyrylcholinesterase (HuBuChE) has been widely used as a biomarker of exposure to organophosphorus (OPs) warfare agents. Indeed, intoxication by OPs can be proven by LC-MS/MS analysis of a specific HuBuChE nonapeptide on which OPs covalently bind. Therefore, we developed a fast, selective and sensitive on-line set-up for the analysis of HuBuChE from plasma that combines immunoextraction by anti-HuBuChE antibodies, pepsin digestion on Immobilized Enzyme Reactors (IMER) and microLC-MS/MS analysis of the target nonapeptide, FGESAGAAS. Two pepsin-based IMERs were prepared and characterized in terms of grafting and digestion yields and were coupled on-line to microLC-MS/MS analysis. In addition, immunosorbents were prepared by covalent grafting of three anti-HuBuChE antibodies on CNBr-sepharose and epoxy-polymethacrylate supports and packed in precolumns. The best antibody grafting yields were obtained with sepharose-based supports, with grafting yields up to 98%. B2 18-5 monoclonal antibody grafted on sepharose led to the best immunosorbent, with HuBuChE recovery close to 100%. The immunosorbent was introduced upstream of the on-line digestion set-up and immunoextraction of HuBuChE was achieved in 14min while digestion was performed in 20min, allowing detection of the target nonapeptide in less than 1h. The global recovery of the nonapeptide was higher than 42% using the best immunosorbent with a RSD value lower than 7% (n=3). Finally, the limit of quantification evaluated in plasma sample was 2fmol of nonapeptide. This value, corresponding to 0.5fmol of HuBuChE tetramer, is well below the average amount of HuBuChE tetramer in 50μL of plasma (590fmol)., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The increasing use of pesticides in agriculture causes environmental issues and possible serious health risks to humans and animals. Their determination at trace concentrations in vegetable oils constitutes a significant analytical challenge. Therefore, their analysis often requires both an extraction and a purification step prior to separation with liquid chromatography (LC) and mass spectrometry (MS) detection. This work aimed at developing sorbents that are able to selectively extract from vegetable oil samples several organophosphorus (OPs) pesticides presenting a wide range of physico-chemical properties. Therefore, different conditions were screened to prepare molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) by a non-covalent approach. The selectivity of the resulting polymers was evaluated by studying the OPs retention in pure media on both MIPs and non-imprinted polymers (NIP) used as control. The most promising MIP sorbent was obtained using monocrotophos (MCP) as the template, methacrylic acid (MAA) as the monomer and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) as the cross-linker with a molar ratio of 1/4/20 respectively. The repeatability of the extraction procedure and of the synthesis procedure was demonstrated in pure media. The capacity of this MIP was 1mg/g for malathion. This MIP was also able to selectively extract three OPs from almond oil by applying the optimized SPE procedure. Recoveries were between 73 and 99% with SD values between 4 and 6% in this oil sample. The calculated LOQs (between 0.3 and 2μg/kg) in almond seeds with a SD between 0.1 and 0.4μg/kg were lower than the Maximum Residue Levels (MRLs) established for the corresponding compounds in almond seed., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Human butyrylcholinesterase is a serine hydrolase that reacts with organophosphorus compounds (OP) to form stable adducts. These adducts are valuable biomarkers for OP exposure and can be analyzed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) after a preliminary digestion step in solution. However, this digestion step is time-consuming and cannot be directly coupled with LC-MS set ups. Therefore, the aim of this work was to develop pepsin-based immobilized enzyme microreactors (IMERs) for the rapid digestion of human butyrylcholinesterase (HuBuChE). Various IMERs were synthesized by grafting different amounts of pepsin on a CNBr-sepharose gel and the grafting yield was measured by a bicinchoninic acid assay (BCA). A sensitive nanoLC-MS/MS method was developed to evaluate the digestion yields of HuBuChE on IMERs which was made possible by a synthetic peptide which was used as a calibrant. The digestion was optimized by studying the impact of different parameters such as the digestion time, the temperature and the amount of pepsin grafted on IMER. This optimization allowed HuBuChE to be digested with-in 20min without pretreatment and with digestion yields up to 20%. The repeatability of the IMER synthesis and HuBuChE digestion was highlighted with the characterization of 3 similar IMERs. Finally, the digestion yields of HuBuChE were higher with IMERs when compared to a typical in solution digestion., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)