The analysis of positional
isomers is of great significance because
their different chemical properties but similar structures make separation
difficult. In this work, a simple method for simultaneously discriminating
three positional isomers of 2-aminobiphenyl (2-ABP), 3-ABP, and 4-ABP
was studied by ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) and quantum mechanical
calculations at the molecular level. In the experiments, three ABP
isomers were mixed with α-, β-, and γ-cyclodextrins
(CD), and the IMS results show that the three ABP isomers were clearly
recognized by the formed complex of [α-CD + ABP + H]+ via measuring their IMS, in which the different ion mobilities of
1.515, 1.544, 1.585 V·s·com–2 with the collision cross sections (CCS) of 307.3,
312.5, 320.8 Å2 were obtained for [α-CD + 2-ABP
+ H]+, [α-CD + 3-ABP + H]+, and [α-CD
+ 4-ABP + H]+, respectively. Collision induced dissociation
analysis of the three [α-CD + ABP + H]+ isomer complexes
were further studied, indicating that the same fragmentation process
required different collisional energies, and the greater the CCS for
the [α-CD + ABP + H]+ with looser structure and the
smaller energy required. Besides, the favorable conformation and the
CCS value of the different [CD + ABP + H]+ isomer complexes
were measured via quantum mechanical calculations to detail their
intermolecular interactions. It revealed that the intermolecular binding
between 2-ABP and α-CD is different from that of 3- and 4-ABP,
resulting in different molecular conformations and CCS, and the interaction
modes of ABP with β-CD are similar to that with γ-CD,
which are very consistent with the experimental observations. Finally,
relative quantification of the method was performed, and satisfactory
linearity with correlation coefficients (R
2) greater than 0.99 was obtained. This method for isomer discrimination
and conformation analysis possesses the advantages of simplicity,
sensitivity, cost-effectiveness, and as such it may be widely applied
in chemistry and pharmaceutical sciences.