Derivatization for liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry analysis of small-molecular weight compounds

Chemical derivatization-based liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS) technique is an effective analytical tool for trace small-molecular weight compounds analysis present in complex samples. Chemical derivatization technique can improve the detection sensitivity, selectivity, chromatographic separation and identification capability of LC-ESI-MS analysis. In this review, we summarized the progress of chemical derivatization-assisted LC-MS methods in the period of 2014–2018, according to the functional groups of analytes, such as carboxyls, amines, carbonyls, thiols, hydroxyls, phosphates, modified nucleic acids, conjugated dienes and carbon-carbon double bonds. We mainly focused on the reaction principles of representative derivatization reagents with some application cases highlighting the impact of chemical derivatization-assisted LC-MS technique, which would be helpful for the designing and synthesis of new derivatization reagents for the analysis of small-molecular weight compounds in complex samples.