Determination of Methylphosphonic Acid in Human Blood Plasma by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry

Using high-performance liquid chromatography combined with tandem mass spectrometric detection, an approach has been developed for the determination of the most stable nerve agent biomarker, methylphosphonic acid, in human blood plasma. The proposed method is based on the derivatization of methylphosphonic acid with p-bromophenacyl bromide. The optimization of conditions for human plasma sample preparation, mass spectrometric detection conditions, and gradient elution program has been performed. The proposed approach has demonstrated satisfactory reproducibility and selectivity of the determination; the limit of detection for methylphosphonic acid in human plasma was 3 ng mL(-1).