Differential Rapid Screening of Phytochemicals by Leaf Spray Mass Spectrometry

Ambient ionization can be achieved by generating an electrospray directly from plant tissue ("leaf spray"). The resulting mass spectra are characteristic of ionizable phytochemicals in the plant material. By subtracting the leaf spray spectra recorded from the petals of two hibiscus species H. moscheutos and H. syriacus one gains rapid access to the metabolites that differ most in the two petals. One such compound was identified as the sambubioside of quercitin (or delphinidin) while others are known flavones. Major interest centered on a $C_{19}H_{29}NO_5$ compound that occurs only in the large H. moscheutos bloom. Attempts were made to characterize this compound by mass spectrometry alone as a test of such an approach. This showed that the compound is an alkaloid, assigned to the polyhydroxylated pyrrolidine class, and bound via a $C_3$ hydrocarbon unit to a monoterpene.