What are the common sources of fatty acids contamination in the LC system?

What are the common sources of fatty acids contamination in the LC system?

Fatty acids (FA) are substances, which are common contaminations in LC-MS systems and they “like to remain” in the system. FA are part of the most biological samples and can be easily broguht into the system. e.g., solvent bottles.

Even after a successful cleaning, systems get easily contaminated as FA are part of the most samples.

Signals and noise on MRMs of fattyacids
  1. The noise level of at least FA(12:0) to FA(14:0) or sometimes to FA(18:0) may be elevated and the analytical classification of these metabolites is “invalid”.
  2. This may also apply for DiCa(12:0) and DiCa(14:0).
Info
Fatty acids can be removed from LC-MS systems by applying intense cleaning procedures. However, when analyzing biological samples, the system will be “contaminated” again with fatty acids.