Planta Med 2014; 80 - PB7
DOI: 10.1055/s-0034-1382373

Chemical fingerprinting of marine sponges using LC-MS In combination with 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopy

L Habener 1, A Carroll 1, J Hooper 2, K Hall 2, J Wilson 3, J Worthington Wilmer 2
  • 1Environmental Futures Research Institute, Griffith University, Gold Coast, Australia 4222
  • 2Natural Environments Program, Queensland Museum, Brisbane, Australia 4101
  • 3Glycomics Institute, Griffith University, Gold Coast, Australia 4222

The phylum Porifera (marine sponges) has proven to be a vast source of diverse and bioactive natural products with potential application in pharmaceutical development. However, the taxonomy of this group is complicated due to the frequent lack of clear diagnostic morphological characters. The diverse array of sponge natural products holds promise as an additional source of taxonomic characters. This presentation will report on a characterisation method that we have developed that utilises a combination of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and liquid chromatography inline with mass spectrometry (LC-MS) to provide chemical fingerprints of crude methanol extracts. One dimensional proton (1H) and two dimensional heteronuclear single quantum coherence (1H-13C HSQC) NMR spectra were acquired generating a matrix of carbon and proton chemical shifts for signals in the downfield region between δC ˜100.0 – 160.0 for carbons resonances and between δH ˜6.00 – 12.00 for proton resonances. LCMS spectra comprising of retention time (min), accurate molecular ions (> 5ppm accuracy) and MS/MS daughter ions were acquired using LC/Q-TOF-MS. From these spectra the presence and absences of characteristic peaks were analysed using multivariate statistical methods. This allowed individual sponges to be categorised into clusters or groups based on similar features in their chemical fingerprints. This method has the potential to aid sponge taxonomy, as well as to help focus drug discovery projects.