Quantification of phytochelatins in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii using ferrocene-based derivatization.

A method for the identification and quantification of canonic and isoforms of phytochelatins (PCs) from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii was developed. After disulfide reduction with tris(2-carboxyethyl)phosphine (TCEP) PCs were derivatized with ferrocenecarboxylic acid (2-maleimidoyl)ethylamide (FMEA) in order to avoid oxidation of the free thiol functions during analysis. Liquid chromatography (LC) coupled to electrospray mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) and inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) was used for rapid and quantitative analysis of the precolumn derivatized PCs. PC(2-4), CysGSH, CysPC(2-4), CysPC(2)desGly, CysPC(2)Glu and CysPC(2)Ala were determined in the algal samples depending on the exposure of the cells to cadmium ions.