Development and comparison of three liquid chromatography-atmospheric pressure chemical ionization/mass spectrometry methods for determining vitamin D metabolites in human serum.

Liquid chromatographic methods with atmospheric pressure chemical ionization mass spectrometry were developed for the determination of the vitamin D metabolites 25-hydroxyvitamin D₂ (25(OH)D₂), 25-hydroxyvitamin D₃ (25(OH)D₃), and 3-epi-25-hydroxyvitamin-D₃ (3-epi-25(OH)D₃) in the four Levels of SRM 972, Vitamin D in Human Serum. One method utilized a C18 column, which separates 25(OH)D₂ and 25(OH)D₃, and one method utilized a CN column that also resolves the diastereomers 25(OH)D₃ and 3-epi-25(OH)D₃. Both methods utilized stable isotope labeled internal standards for quantitation of 25(OH)D₂ and 25(OH)D₃. These methods were subsequently used to evaluate SRM 909c Human Serum, and 25(OH)D₃ was the only vitamin D metabolite detected in this material. However, SRM 909c samples contained matrix peaks that interfered with the determination of the [²H₆]-25(OH)D₃ peak area. The chromatographic conditions for the C18 column were modified to remove this interference, but conditions that separated the matrix peaks from [²H₆]-25(OH)D₃ on the CN column could not be identified. The alternate internal standard [²H₃]-25(OH)D₃ did not suffer from matrix interferences and was used for quantitation of 25(OH)D₃ in SRM 909c. During the evaluation of SRM 909c samples, a third method was developed using a pentafluorophenylpropyl column that also separates the diastereomers 25(OH)D₃ and 3-epi-25(OH)D₃. The 25(OH)D₃ was measured in SRM 909c using all three methods, and the results were compared.