MEKC-MS and biological matrices

Iridoid glycosides are secondary plant metabolites used by certain specialist butterflies in their chemical defence. This book describes the application of modern sample pretreatment and analysis techniques to the study of these compounds in plant and insect samples. In the research presented in this book, micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC or MECC) was used for the separation of the iridoid glycosides, and UV detection or mass spectrometric (MS) detection was used for identification and quantification of the compounds. On-line coupling of MECC to MS was performed with partial filling (PF). The optimised pretreatment and analysis methods were used in the identification and determination of iridoid glycosides in the host plants and in larvae and adults of Melitaea cinxia butterfly. A relationship was demonstrated between the iridoid glycoside content of the larvae and the probability of their being parasitised by a specialist parasitoid.