Gas chromatographic/mass spectrometric determination of alicyclic primary hydroxylamines in metabolic studies in vitro.

The combination of gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (GC/MS) is effective for separation and identification of the hydroxylamine metabolites of alicyclic primary amines after acetylation. These products give mass spectra containing diagnostic fragment ions which are of great value for identification of metabolites. The mass spectra of diacetyl alicyclic primary hydroxylamines gave prominent characteristic peaks at m/z (M - 42), (M - 42 - 42), (M - 101), 118 (AcNOAc) and 76 (AcNOH). GC/MS analysis of the incubation extracts has shown that the N-hydroxylamines are the major metabolites of alicyclic primary amines in rabbit liver microsomes.