Kazutake Shimada, Yoshiyuki Mukai, Aki Nakajima and Youko Naka
The separation and characterization of 3-fatty acid esters (stearate, palmitate) of pregnenolone and dehydroepiandrosterone in rat brains were carried out using liquid chromatography atmospheric pressure chemical ionization mass spectrometry (LC–APCI-MS) operating in the positive-ion mode. The fatty acid esters obtained from rat brains were derivatized with O-methylhydroxylamine to give the respective methyloximes, which were identified by comparison with authentic samples during the course of LC–APCI-MS.