Recent development of nanoparticle-assisted metabolites analysis with mass spectrometry

Metabolomics systematically studies the changes of metabolites in biological systems in the temporal or spatial dimensions. It is a challenging task for comprehensive analysis of metabolomics because of diverse physicochemical properties and wide concentration distribution of metabolites. Used as enrichment sorbents, chemoselective probes, chromatographic stationary phases, MS ionization matrix, nanomaterials play excellent roles in improving the selectivity, separation performance, detection sensitivity and identification efficiency of metabolites when mass spectrometry is employed as the detection technique. This review summarized the recent development of nanoparticle-assisted metabolites analysis in terms of assisting the pretreatment of biological samples, improving the separation performance and enhancing the MALDI-MS detection. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

Metabolomics focuses on studying the changes of metabolites in biological systems, and nanomaterials play a crucial role in improving the selectivity, separation performance, detection sensitivity, and identification efficiency of metabolites when mass spectrometry is used as the detection technique.