ToF‐SIMS analysis of diadenosine triphosphate and didadenosine tetraphosphate using bismuth and argon cluster ion beams

In the past few decades, research has shown diadenosine polyphosphates (Ap n A) to be a family of intercellular and intracellular signaling molecules that play a key role in biological and pharmacological activities. ToF‐SIMS, recently shown to be a promising technique to analyze metabolites in biological samples due to its high sensitivity and specificity, was employed to analyze mixed diadenosine triphosphate (Ap 3 A) and diadenosine tetraphosphate (Ap 4 A) spiked in HeLa cell lysates by using bismuth and argon cluster ion beams. The molecular ion signals of Ap 3 A and Ap 4 A in the cell lysates were stronger when using an argon cluster ion beam than when using a bismuth cluster ion beam, although the detection limits of both molecules were the same. Using a correlation curve to indicate the molecular signal intensities and concentrations, the amount of Ap 3 A and Ap 4 A molecules in HeLa cell lysates could be quantified in the concentration range of 0.1 mM to 10 mM for Ap 3 A, and 5 mM and 20 mM for Ap 4 A. We believe that ToF‐SIMS analysis could be a powerful technique to detect important metabolite molecules such as Ap n A for biomedical applications, without the need for a separation process. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.