On the use of a 2D-carbon microfiber fractionation system to improve flow-injection QTOF-HRMS analysis in complex matrices: the case of Abelmoschus manihot flower extracts

A two-dimensional microscale carbon fiber/active carbon fiber system combined with a quadrupole time of flight high-resolution mass spectrometer (2DCFs-QTOF-HRMS) system is proposed to rapidly identify polar, medium polar and weakly polar constituents in complex matrices strongly mitigating ionic suppression effects. The 2DCFS-QTOF-HRMS capabilities have been proven analysing the composition of Abelmoschus manihot flower extracts, allowing in a single run the detection of 41 known substances and the presence of 6 compounds never revealed before in these samples. 2DCFS-QTOF-HRMS has been compared with traditional HPLC-MS, showing higher versatilities, and a significant reduction of both analysis time (70 min to 5 min) and solvent consumption (35 mL to 1.5 mL). A comparison with results obtained by direct flow-injection MS analyses demonstrated that 2DCFS-QTOF-HRMS lead to a more comprehensive analysis and to an improved detection sensitivity. The proposed method can be considered suitable for rapid and comprehensive analysis of food, environmental and pharmaceutical complex samples. 2DCFs-QTOF-HRMS can be then considered a rapid, versatile, reliable, high-throughput and economical technique, that allows to obtain information on polar, semipolar, and weakly polar component in complex matrices.