Algae Compound Analysis by UPLC-PDA-ESI-QTOF

Dried extract (3 mg) of algae was dissolved in 1 mL of MeOH/H₂O 1/1 v/v. The analysis of compounds from algae was carried out with the use of an ACQUITY Ultra Performance LC system equipped with a photodiode array detector with a binary solvent manager (Waters Corporation, Milford, MA, USA) series with a mass detector Q/TOF micro mass spectrometer (Waters) equipped with an electrospray ionization (ESI) source operating in negative mode at the following conditions: capillary voltage, 2300 kV; source temperature, 100 °C; cone gas flow, 40 L/h; desolvation temperature, 500 °C; desolvation gas flow, 11,000 L/h; and scan range, m/z 50–1500. Separation of individual compounds was carried out using an ACQUITY UPLC BEH Shield RP18 column (1.7 μm, 2.1 mm × 100 mm; Waters Corporation, Milford, MA, USA) at 40 °C. The elution gradient test was carried out using water containing 1% acetic acid (A) and acetonitrile (B), and applied as follows: 0 min, 1% B; 2.3 min, 1% B; 4.4 min, 7% B; 8.1 min, 14% B; 12.2 min, 24% B; 16 min, 40% B; 18.3 min, 100% B, 21 min, 100% B; 22.4 min, 1% B; 25 min, 1% B. The sample volume injected was 2 μL and the flow rate used was 0.6 mL/min. The compounds were monitored at 280 nm. Integration and data elaboration were performed using MassLynx 4.1 software (Waters Corporation, Milford, MA, USA) [54 (link)].