CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/767,894, filed November 15, 2018, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0002] The present invention generally relates to compounds and methods for labeling and analyzing analytes using mass spectrometry.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0003] Metabolomics offers the promise of uncovering new pathways, therapeutic targets, and biomarkers. LC-mass spectrometry (MS) based metabolomics covers a high range of metabolites but suffers from quantitation and identification difficulties due to signal response and polarity differences stemming from varying levels of hydrophobicity and charge affinity. Metabolites usually bind salts and solvents in the electrospray process resulting in irrelevant MS peaks (called degeneracy) (1) (2). This splits the signal intensity among multiple peaks and severely complicate data analysis. Metabolomics also suffers from low throughput, difficulty in identification, and dilution/poor sample loading for small samples. Current solutions include making multiple injections on multiple chromatographic methods, isotope standards (3, 4) or specific isotope tags (5-7) (8-11) (12, 13), and bioinformatic exclusion of degenerate peaks (1, 14-16). However, these solutions are not enough and this is best illustrated in the low

identification rate of untargeted metabolomics and the low metabolite numbers analyzed in targeted metabolomics. Identifying metabolites from degenerate noise is difficult and determining relevant unidentified peaks to investigate further is challenging. Because much of the MS data acquired in metabolomics is discarded, tagging methods which reduce degeneracy are needed to optimize analyte signal and identification.

[0004] Advancing metabolomic technology is also critical to obtaining a holistic understanding of disease states envisioned by systems biology. Metabolomics has grown exponentially and has had a high impact on both bench science and translational arenas including: identifying new compounds relevant to pain (17, 18), predicting new modes of action of antimicrobial compounds (19, 20), revealing mechanisms in the progression of diabetes (21, 22), and evaluating heart failure (23). Current impediments in metabolomics center around the structural heterogeneity of the metabolome. Because there is no common structure or functionality like in biopolymers, a method for analyzing the whole metabolome does not exist. Rather there are a plethora of metabolomics LC-MS methods to either target a few classes of compounds (24, 25) or untargeted analysis of which < 20% of the peaks are considered real metabolites (16, 26). The remaining >80% of ions are degenerate (adducts with salts, dimers, or neutral water losses) (1). In addition, identification of new potential metabolites relies on structurally informative fragmentation which is rare in current systems. For metabolomics to reach its full potential, metabolite degeneracy must be eliminated, quantitation and sensitivity improved, throughput accelerated, identification workflow strengthened and be robust enough to analyze complex samples.

[0005] Quantitative analysis of metabolites is affected by their hydrophobicity and charge affinity. Because metabolites are not biopolymers and are structurally diverse, a single method capable of loading, separating, analyzing and identifying the metabolome does not exist. Currently a large variety of platforms are used to analyze a relatively small number of analytes reproducibly. A metabolite tagging system that increases hydrophobicity and charge state would allow for pre-concentration of low abundance samples, increased signal intensity, improved chromatographic peak shape and yield useful fragmentation patterns.

[0006] There is a need for transferable tagging methods that eliminate degeneracy, increase signal intensity, and aid in identification, particularly in metabolomics.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0007] Aspects of the present invention relate to compounds useful as tags/labels for analyzing analytes in a sample using mass spectrometry. In various embodiments, the compounds include those having a structure of formula (I):

wherein:

A ¹ , A ² , and A ³ are each independently ¹² C or ¹³ C;

B ¹ is ¹⁴ N or ¹⁵ N;

R ¹ comprises a reactive functional group;

R ² , R ³ , R ⁴ , R ⁵ , R ⁶ , R ⁷ , R ⁸ , R ⁹ , R ¹⁰ , R ¹¹ , R ¹² , R ¹³ , R ¹⁴ , R ¹⁵ , and R ¹⁶ are each independently deuterium or hydrogen; and

n is an integer from 0 to 10, from 0 to 8, from 0 to 6, from 0 to 4, from 0 to 2, from 1 to 10, from 1 to 8, from 1 to 6, from 1 to 4, or from 1 to 2.

[0008] Other aspects of the present invention also relate to various analytical methods.

In some embodiments, a method of analyzing an analyte in a sample comprises reacting the analyte with a compound as described herein to label the analyte; subjecting the sample to a mass spectrometry protocol; detecting at least one charged fragment resulting from the compound that corresponds to the analyte; and analyzing the analyte based on the detection of the charged fragment.

[0009] Additional aspects of the present invention relate to various methods of preparing an analyte for analysis (e.g., quantitative analysis using mass spectrometry). In various embodiments, the methods comprise reacting the analyte with a compound as described herein (formula (I)).

[0010] Other objects and features will be in part apparent and in part pointed out hereinafter. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

[0011] FIG. 1 shows problems in metabolomics and proposed solutions. Sequential tagging scheme of all functional groups (3hr) with cationic -hydrophobic tags can clarify analyte spectra, improve quantitation, and boost sensitivity.

[0012] FIG. 2 shows two types of deuterium based isobaric universal tagging.. Tags are designed to fragment to yield a trimethyl amine neutral loss. Each tag has the exact same chemical formula, and therefore the same mass. Depending on the deuterium placement, neutral losses can be either 59, 61, 63, or 65 m/z. The cyclized product is charged and therefore detectable. The shown tags are designed to label carboxylates.

[0013] FIG. 3 shows fragmentation of quaternary amine tags on low resolution MS. Triple tagged lysine shows a +3 fixed charge. Fragmentation yields a major triple loss of trimethylamine. Both the acyl chloride tag and amine tag show fragmentation and loss of 59 as the major neutral loss. The use of these tags form five member rings instead of the proposed more stable six member ring.

[0014] FIG. 4 shows isobaric tagging of lactate for quantitation. Preliminary work of synthesizing isobaric 2-plex tags for carboxylate was performed. Each tag was reacted with lactate and mixed 1 : 1 followed by fragmentation of m/z 195 in a QqQ-MS. The measured ratio was 1 : 0.96.

[0015] FIG. 5 shows the synthesis route for universal neucode tags. Carboxylate tagging reagent (Top) and nucleophile tagging reagent (bottom). After protecting the reactive group, amines are methylated using various isotopic options of formaldehyde and CNB¾. The deprotected carboxylic acid (bottom right) is the chlorinated to an acid chloride.

[0016] FIG. 6 show chromatographic co-elution of lactate tagged with carboxylate tag of varying deuteriums (DO vs. D9). Deuterated carboxylate reactive tags were synthesized reacted with lactate, and analyzed for variations in retention on a RPLC-MS system. The D9 (grey) showed exact co-elution with the DO (black).

[0017] FIGS. 7A-7C shows the results from an experiment where different

concentrations of 4-formylbenzoic acid are labeled with different neucode tags of the present invention (FIG. 7A) and then detected using mass spectrometry (FIG. 7B). The peaks form the mass spectrometry plot (FIG. 7B) are used to generate a dose-response curve in FIG. 7C. [0018] FIGS. 8A-8D show chemical reactions for preparing isotope labeled neucode tags of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0019] Applicants have developed a tagging technology that can improve, among other things, metabolomics throughput and data quality (FIG. 1). Analytes, such as metabolites, can be tagged in to increase both charge affinity and hydrophobicity which can: normalize signal response across metabolites, increase signal intensity, diminish degenerate signals, and allow for pre-concentration. Many analytes can be analyzed using this technique. The processes disclosed herein can enable the analysis of large analyte (e.g., metabolite) pools from precious samples using transferable protocols for both low and high resolution MS as well as the determination of the metabolome size of various samples.

[0020] Previous metabolomics work has used MS tags to react with specific functional groups which lend selectivity in analysis (32, 33). Those platforms which tag multiple functional groups do so as independent reactions (i.e. 4 different functional group tags with 4 independent samples reactions) (32-34). This breadth of analysis requires multiple LC-MS platforms/runs for each functional group tagged. The tagging scheme described herein labels the same sample sequentially, which results in multiple charges and increased hydrophobicity. Recently, the tagging method TRENDI has been used to methylate every functional group (35, 36).

Drawbacks of TRENDI are that it only charges (and therefore detects) amine-containing metabolites, its reagents are highly explosive, and unshippable, which requires a synthetic chemist to generate the reagents at the time of use. Most targeted quantitative approaches use multiple platforms and focus on up to 150 compounds (6, 7, 37). Because of limited loading capability and levels of some metabolites, reproducible and targeted quantification is often ~50 analytes. This number is expanded by using multiple LC systems (3, 4). The tagging described herein provides a universal scheme and multidimensional separations for pre-concentration and detection of all metabolites. This 2D-LC-MS platform offers a peak capacity of 1200 eliminating the need for multiple LC platforms.

[0021] Isotope tagging is used in metabolomics but has been based on specific group tagging and often only analyzing for two samples. The invention described herein uses charged tags which can selectively analyze based on functional group. Tags described herein can use differential neutral loss in a 4-plex sample. Tags for low resolution MS are 4-plex, extremely inexpensive, and functional for a diverse range of metabolites. Also provided are a set of high resolution MS tags that are based on proteomics technology of neucoding. Proteomics based neucoding uses different isotopes of lysine ( ¹⁵ N, ¹³ C, D) and up to 18-plex. The neucode system described herein uses tagging, is cost effective and can analyze up to 30-120 samples at once.

[0022] Isotope labeling is a technique in MS which improves quantitative issues of competing ionization and allows for multiplexing of samples. These techniques are often specific to a class of metabolite like primary amines or thiols. For these tags to enable quantitation, the isotopes must co-elute from the column at the same time. Tags use expensive ¹³ C and ¹² C to ensure co-elution because less expensive deuterium can cause chromatographic shifts. Provided herein are methods of using deuterium-based isotope tags to substantially reduce costs for amine metabolite analyses. Specifically centering the deuterium labels around a polar center (e.g., quaternary amine) ensures chromatographic co-elution between isotopes. Isobaric tagging has been used extensively in proteomics analyses and to a lesser extent for amine based metabolomics. Isobaric tagging uses a series of labels (usually 4-12 pi ex) which have the same mass, but different product masses in the MS/MS fragmentation. Samples are lysed, tagged with different isobaric regents, and then mixed at equal ratios. Ratiometric quantitation is achieved in the MS/MS analyses, with each unique fragment mass corresponding to a different sample.

[0023] Neucode tagging uses isotope labels that generally have the unique fragment mass corresponding to a different sample. Neucode tagging uses isotope labels that generally have the same nominal mass but different exact mass. Because mass shifts/defects differ between ¹³ C and deuterium (+1.0033 and +1.0063 Da respectively), high resolution MS can distinguish a label which has a ¹³ C vs. a D.

[0024] The present invention can use deuterium based tagging to achieve universal metabolomics isotope labeling that achieves high precision at a remarkably low cost. Tags for low resolution QqQ-Ms can use a 4-plex isobaric system and the tags for high resolution MS can use a 30, 60, 90, or 120-plex neucoding system.

[0025] In general, the methods described herein can be used to tag samples with a carboxylate or nucleophile reagent and subject them to full bore or capillary RPLC-QqQ-MS. This method can be used with a low resolution targeted QqQ-MS in a targeted, product ion scan platform or with high resolution MS in a data dependent mode. With the charge state fixed to the number of tags, ¹³ C spacing reveals the number of tags. This system does not suffer from competing ionization because quaternary amine tags have fixed charges and variations are accounted for through the isobaric tagging. 2D-LC is not expected to be needed.

[0026] Neucoding relies on the ability to resolve milli-dalton level differences. In proteomics, the charge state is larger than the number of isotope shifts, which requires higher resolution MS than is needed for metabolomics. Metabolomic tagging with fixed charge links the charge state with the isotopic shift (73). For instance, a singly tagged metabolite, has a +1 charge state and may have one neucode with either ¹³ C3 or D3, which is a difference of 0.0028 Da, and 0.0028 m/z. A doubly tagged metabolite can have a +2 charge state and thus ¹³ C6 or Dr, with 0.0056 Da shift, also a difference of 0.0028 m/z. The smaller charge states on tagged metabolites vs. proteins allows for most orbitraps to be used to resolve neucode tagged metabolites.

[0027] High level multiplexing of metabolites can be achieved using neucode and fixed universal charged tagging. Based on the same general synthesis method described in Example 1 the number of isotopes around the quaternary amine can be altered using commercially available reagents. Specifically, the quartemary amine can comprise any number of deuteriums (instead of hydrogens), carbon-13 (instead of carbon-12) and nitrogen-15 (instead of nitrogen-14). In this way a library of neucode tags having detectable m/z differences can be achieved.

[0028] In some embodiments, a commercially available di-amino butyl chain with ¹⁵ N2 can be used. In this case, a 60-plex can be achieved while remaining very cost effective

(~$2.50/sample). To generate the acyl chloride (amine/hydroxyl reactant) tag, ¹⁵ N isotopes of amino-butyric acid are commercially available to yield the 60-plex. Both tag forms can be used individually or together. Further, the methods described in FIG. 5 and FIG. 8 herein are not limited to just propyl or butyl chains. For example, one could easily envision modifying other di-amino alkyl chains could be modified in the same way (e.g., butyl, pentyl, hexyl, etc.).

[0029] This high level of multiplexing is unprecedented in metabolomics based MS. The use of commercially available reagents for synthesis allows for extremely low cost per sample. The level of MS resolution needed for these neucode tags can be determined through this protocol. In theory 30 and 60 plex are achievable because most all metabolites are below 350 m/z. [0030] Accordingly, various aspects of the present invention relate to compounds useful as tags/labels for analyzing analytes in a sample using mass spectrometry. Other aspects of the present invention relate to various analytical methods and methods of preparing an analyte for analysis.

[0031] Compounds useful as tags/labels for analyzing analytes in a sample using mass spectrometry include those having a structure of formula (I):

wherein:

A ¹ , A ² , and A ³ are each independently ¹² C or ¹³ C;

B ¹ is ¹⁴ N or ¹⁵ N;

R ¹ comprises a reactive functional group;

R ² , R ³ , R ⁴ , R ⁵ , R ⁶ , R ⁷ , R ⁸ , R ⁹ , R ¹⁰ , R ¹¹ , R ¹² , R ¹³ , R ¹⁴ , R ¹⁵ , and R ¹⁶ are each independently deuterium or hydrogen; and

n is an integer from 0 to 10, from 0 to 8, from 0 to 6, from 0 to 4, from 0 to 2, from 1 to 10, from 1 to 8, from 1 to 6, from 1 to 4, or from 1 to 2.

[0032] In various embodiments, at least one substituent (i.e., atom) of formula (I) is a radioisotope. For example, in some embodiments, at least one A ¹ , A ² , A ³ , B ¹ , R ² , R ³ , R ⁴ , R ⁵ , R ⁶ , R ⁷ , R ⁸ , R ⁹ , R ¹⁰ , R ¹¹ , R ¹² , R ¹³ , R ¹⁴ , R ¹⁵ , and R ¹⁶ is a radioisotope.

[0033] In certain at least one, two, or three of A ¹ , A ² , A ³ is ¹³ C. In these and other embodiments, at least one, two, or three of A ¹ , A ² , A ³ is ¹² C.

[0034] In some embodiments, B ¹ is ¹⁴ N.

[0035] In various embodiments, at least one, two, three, or four of R ² , R ³ , R ⁴ , R ⁵ , R ⁶ , R ⁷ , R ⁸ , R ⁹ , R ¹⁰ , R ¹¹ , R ¹² , R ¹³ , R ¹⁴ , R ¹⁵ , and R ¹⁶ is deuterium. In some embodiments, at least one, two, three or four of R ⁸ , R ⁹ , R ¹⁰ , R ¹¹ , R ¹² , R ¹³ , R ¹⁴ , R ¹⁵ , and R ¹⁶ is deuterium. In certain embodiments, at least one, two, or three of R ⁸ , R ⁹ , R ¹⁰ is deuterium, at least one, two, or three of R ¹¹ , R ¹² , R ¹³ is deuterium; and/or at least one, two, or three of R ¹⁴ , R ¹⁵ , and R ¹⁶ is deuterium. In further embodiments, R ² , R ³ , R ⁴ , R ⁵ , R ⁶ and R ⁷ are each deuterium.

[0036] In various embodiments, R ² , R ³ , R ⁴ , R ⁵ , R ⁶ and R ⁷ are each hydrogen.

[0037] As noted, R ¹ comprises a reactive functional group. In some embodiments, the R ¹ is a carboxyl, amido, or amino. In certain embodiments, R ¹ is:

wherein B ² is ¹⁴ N or ¹⁵ N.

[0038] In some embodiments, R ¹ comprises an amido group and the compound of formula (II) forms a cyclic quaternary amine.

[0039] As noted, n can be an integer from 0 to 10, from 0 to 8, from 0 to 6, from 0 to 4, from 0 to 2, from 1 to 10, from 1 to 8, from 1 to 6, from 1 to 4, or from 1 to 2. In various embodiments, n is 1, 2, or 3.

[0040] In some embodiments, the compound having a structure of formula (I) can decay or fragment (e.g., during a mass spectrometry protocol) into compounds having a structure of formulas (II) and (III):

as previously defined and wherein the compound of formula (III) can be complexed or bound to an analyte.

[0041] In various embodiments, the compound has a structure of formula (la), (lb), (Ic), or (Id):

B ¹ , B ² , R ¹ , R ² , R ³ , R ⁴ , R ⁵ , R ⁶ , R ⁷ , R ⁸ , R ⁹ , R ¹⁰ , R ¹¹ , R ¹² , R ¹³ , R ¹⁴ , R ¹⁵ , and R ¹⁶ are as defined above; and R ¹⁷ and R ¹⁸ are each independently deuterium or hydrogen.

[0042] In various embodiments, isobaric tags which use only deuterium are provided. Two tags are synthesized to react with either nucleophiles (amines and hydroxyls) or carboxylates. Most isobaric tags are designed to generate a specific product ion upon fragmentation. The proof of concept for a tag that fragments with a specific neutral loss, rather than a specific ion was shown for proteomics using a sulfonium ion as a 2-plex (69-71). Here, isobaric tags are provided that are based on a quaternary amine which yield a neutral loss of trimethyl amine. FIG. 3 shows the general scheme of the system. Using commercially available deuterium starting reagents, six deuteriums can be on each of the four tags. By placing the deuterium around the nitrogen to yield a quaternary amine for one tag and the deuterium along the alkyl chain along another, the mass remains the same for each, but the fragmentation yields different product ions. By using a short chain alkyl and a quaternary amine, the loss of trimethyl amine is preferred and a stable, charged ring is generated.

[0043] As noted, aspects of the present invention relate to various methods of preparing an analyte for analysis (e.g., quantitative analysis using mass spectrometry). In various embodiments, the methods comprise reacting the analyte with the compounds as described herein (formula (I)).

[0044] Aspects of the present invention also relate to various analytical methods. In some embodiments, a method of analyzing an analyte in a sample comprise reacting the analyte with the compound as described herein to label the analyte; subjecting the sample to a mass spectrometry protocol; detecting at least one charged fragment resulting from the compound that corresponds to the analyte; and analyzing the analyte based on the detection of the charged fragment. In various embodiments, the mass spectrometry protocol comprises a triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (QqQ-MS). In certain embodiments, the mass spectrometry protocol comprises a high resolution mass spectrometry method.

[0045] In some embodiments, the method further comprises a chromatography step. In certain embodiments, the chromatography step comprises liquid chromatography or reverse phase liquid chromatography.

[0046] In various embodiments, the method comprises obtaining a plurality of samples each comprising the analyte and reacting the analyte in each sample with a compound as described herein, wherein the compound used to label the analyte is different between each sample. In some embodiments, the analytes are labeled with compounds that have the same exact mass but fragment into compounds having different m/z ratios during the mass spectrometry protocol. In other embodiments, the analytes are labeled with compounds that have the same nominal mass but different exact mass. [0047] In various embodiments, the method comprises analyzing the analyte in the sample.

[0048] In some embodiments, the mass spectrometry protocol comprises a multiplex protocol.

[0049] In various embodiments, the analyte comprises an organic compound. In particular, the analyte can comprise an organic compound reactive with the R ¹ group of the compound of formula (I). In some embodiments, the analyte comprises a protein, a nucleic acid, or a metabolite. In certain embodiments, the analyte comprises a metabolite.

[0050] In various embodiments, the sample comprises a biological specimen.

EXAMPLES

[0051] The following non-limiting examples are provided to further illustrate the present invention.

Example 1: Establishing Isotope Labeling for Universal Multiplexing of Metabolites

[0052] Proteomics technologies have shown proof of concept for the general approach of amine based isobaric and neucode quantitation. The following examples use isotope based tagging to achieve universal metabolomic isotope labeling that achieves high precision at a remarkably low cost. Tags for low resolution QqQ-MS use a 4-plex isobaric system (Example 2) and the tags for high resolution MS use a 30 and 60-plex neucoding system (Examples 3-5).

Example 2: Synthesis of Universal Isobaric Tags for Targeted Analysis Using Low- Resolution QqQ-MS.

[0053] In this example, the synthesis of isobaric tags (4-plex) is described for use in analyzing tagged metabolites using a low resolution mass spectrometry system (e.g., triple quadrupole mass spectrometry or QqQ-MS).

[0054] The synthesis of a four-plex set of isobaric tags was performed as described in FIG. 5 provides a scheme for the synthesis. For the carboxylate reactive tags, both 1,3- diaminopropane and l,3-diamino(proapane-d6) are mono-Boc protected with yields of 75% and 65% respectively. The unprotected primary amine of /V-Boc- 1.3-diaminopropane was then converted to three different quaternary amines with a combination of H2/D2 formaldehyde and NaCNBH4 or CH3I/CD2HI and potassium carbonate. This system increased versatility because the isotope is inserted using two unique methylation chemistries: formaldehyde (H2 or D2) in a reductive amination (step one) or SN2 iodomethylation (Step two). The primary amine of N- Boc-l,3-diamino(proapane-d6) was reacted with CH3I to yield the quaternary amine. All four subsequent compounds were then deprotected with trifluoroacetic acid yielding the primary amines with overall yields ranging from 80% to 90% after the quatemization and deprotection steps. The second type, nucleophilic reactive tags were synthesized from commercially available deuterated 4-aminobutanoic acid, and were reacted in a similar method as above to yield different quaternary amines (methyl esters formed are hydrolyzed under acidic conditions). The nucleophile reactive tags were converted into acid chlorides using Ghosez’s reagent.

[0055] In preliminary studies, the nucleophile reactive tag and carboxylate reactive tag both showed strong fragmentation of a trimethylamine neutral loss (-59 m/z). FIG. 3 shows the fragmentation pattern of lysine tagged with both the carboxylate tag (blue) and the nucleophile tag (red). These data show a neutral loss of 59 as the major peak for each tag present. Lysine is tagged three times. Spectrum shows complete fragmentation in that the major product ion (102.9 m/z) is from the cleavage of all tags and that +3 charge is maintained.

[0056] FIG. 4 shows preliminary results from using a 2-plex of this tag to quantitate tagged lactate standards. Specifically, isobaric 2-plex tags were synthesized and reacted with lactate individually. The tagged lactates were then mixed in a 1: 1 ratio and fragmented using a QqQ-MS. FIG. 4 shows the resulting mass spectrometry plot. Two peaks are visible at 130 m/z and 136.2 m/z which correspond to the two different tagged lactates (each beginning with a m/z ratio of 195). The measured ratio (e.g., ratio of the peaks) was 1:0.96.

[0057] The results in this example demonstrate the feasibility and workability of isobaric tags that contain an equivalent number of hydrogens and deuteriums, but a different distribution so as to result in ionized fragments having different m/z ratios. The methods described here are useful for lower resolution mass spectrometry protocols, although they can be adapted to high resolution protocols as described above. Example 3: Synthesis of Universal Neucode Tags for Untargeted Analysis using high resolution MS.

[0058] In this example, the synthesis of neucode tags (30-60-plex) is described for use in analyzing metabolites using a high resolution mass spectrometry system (e.g., RPLC-MS).

[0059] As described above, FIG. 5 shows the general synthesis route of the carboxylate (top) or nucleophile (bottom) tagging reagents. Because the addition of the first two methyl groups (formaldehyde with NaBFECN) is uncoupled from the last methylation, the number and variety of isotopes can be varied independently. After methylation, the protecting group is removed and the carboxylate on the nucleophile reactive tag (bottom) is converted to an acid chloride.

[0060] The wide variety of tag configurations allowed by this synthesis route can give unprecedented multiplexing capabilities. By differing the isotopes only on the quartemary amine methyls, 30 different tags with a mass difference >0.0028 m/z over a 12 m/z range can be achieved, and 21-plex if the m/z difference needs to be >0.0056 m/z. The use of quaternary amine tags reduced degeneracy and the number of potential interfering peaks within the 12 m/z range of the analyte. In some cases, tags which use ¹³ C can have at least two ¹³ C, to avoid interferences from the naturally occurring isotope. The use of a 12 m/z range to quantify each analyte may appear large and difficult to manage but the tagging reduces degeneracy.

Adducts/neutral losses are eliminated and enhanced signal intensity of the tag eases quantitative issues.

[0061] The neucode tags described here can have different masses (on account of different isotopic ratios), but should have the same polarity. Accordingly, metabolites tagged with various neucode tags can be expected to elute at the same time on a reverse-phase liquid chromatography. In support of this, lactate was tagged with deuterated carboxylate reactive tags having either 0 or 9 deuteriums and were analyzed for variations in retention time on an RPLC system. As shown in FIG. 6, both of the tags eluted at the same time, indicating no change in polarity or other properties other than the m/z ratio.

Example 4: Formylbenzoic acid quantitation

[0062] Formylbenzoic acid was reacted at varying concentration with six different neucode tag to enhance signal intensity and improve quantitation (FIG. 7A). Each concentration was tagged with a different variant of the tag as described below in the table. Samples were mixed at equal amounts and analyzed by high resolution mass spectrometry (FIG. 7B). A calibration curve was generated plotting the signal to concentration ratio and it showed a linearity of R ² =0.0976 (FIG. 7C).

Table: 4-formylbenzoic acid and neucode tag properties.

Example 5: Synthesis of isotopically labeled neucode tags.

[0063] The initial 30-plex using ¹³ C and D around the quaternary amine (e.g., FIG. 5) can be further expanded using commercially available reactants. FIGS. 8A-8D provide reaction schemes for labeling neucode tags with different isotopes. In general, schemes are described for labeling the terminal amine in the tags described herein. For example, FIG. 8A describes how to introduce three methyl groups with the same H or D content at the same time. As an additional example, FIG. 8B describes how to introduce 2 ethyl groups with the same H or D content at the same time and 1 methyl group with varying H or D content. FIG. 8C describes how to introduce H or D into the propyl (or butyl) chain and introduce three methyl groups with the same H or D content at the same time. FIG. 8D describes how to introduce ¹⁴ N or ¹⁵ N into the propyl (or butyl) chain and introduce three methyl groups with the same H or D content at the same time.

[0064] Having described the invention in detail, it will be apparent that modifications and variations are possible without departing from the scope of the invention defined in the appended claims.

[0065] When introducing elements of the present invention or the preferred

embodiments(s) thereof, the articles "a", "an", "the" and "said" are intended to mean that there are one or more of the elements. The terms "comprising", "including" and "having" are intended to be inclusive and mean that there may be additional elements other than the listed elements.

[0066] In view of the above, it will be seen that the several objects of the invention are achieved and other advantageous results attained.

[0067] As various changes could be made in the above compounds and methods without departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description and shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

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