Detection of hydroxyethylstarch (HES) in human urine by liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry

The objective of this study was to establish the possibility of using liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry for the detection of hydroxyethylstarch (a corn starch derived product) in urine as an alternative to the current time consuming GC–MS methods. Analyses were performed using an ion trap instrument after acidic hydrolysis. Ionization was carried out using atmospheric pressure chemical ionisation (APCI) operated in negative ionization mode and detection was performed using MS2. The results indicate that the developed method can successfully be applied as a fast and reliable method for the detection and identification of hydroxyethylstarch.