Investigation into the use of derivatization with imidazole for the detection of clavam compounds by liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry

Abstract

The analysis of clavulanic acid and structurally related compounds is difficult chromatographically because the compounds are polar and are not well retained on conventional reverse phase HPLC columns. These compounds are also difficult to analyse mass spectrometrically because they do not ionize well and are thermally labile. The use of derivatization with imidazole has been investigated to try to improve both the chromatographic and mass spectrometric responses for clavulanic acid and clavam-2-carboxylate. LC–MS has been used to analyse mixtures of the two compounds and the structure of the derivatives has been confirmed by LC–MS–MS.