Applications of SPME for the Determination of Amino Acids and Peptides in Biological Matrices

Abstract

In the last two decades, solid phase microextraction (SPME) has been proven to be superior to other sample preparation techniques in terms of sampling unstable metabolites in a non-invasive way through combining sampling and extraction in one step. The non-invasive equilibrium-based extraction of metabolites by SPME allows SPME tools to sample short-lived metabolites, making the discovery of intermediate metabolic compounds and sample preparation for analysis in accurate amounts possible. Among all biological compounds sampled through SPME, amino acids and short peptides have attracted significant attention recently, as they play vital roles in human metabolism, such as in the pathways of cellular signalling, neurotransmission, protein synthesis, and fatty acid metabolism. This chapter summarizes the current techniques in amino acid and peptide sample preparation through SPME. Initially, amino acid derivatization and subsequent GC-MS analysis are described. It continues with a demonstration of non-derivatization based amino acid sample preparation techniques and the extraction of small peptides from complex biological matrices through Bio-SPME.