Despite
recent technological developments in analytical chemistry,
separation and direct characterization of transient intermediates
remain an analytical challenge. Among these, separation and direct
characterization of quinonoid dihydrobiopterin (qH2Bip), a transient
intermediate of tetrahydrobiopterin (H4Bip)-dependent hydroxylation
reactions, essential in living organisms, with important and varied
human pathophysiological impacts, are a clear illustration. H4Bip
regeneration may be impaired by competitive nonenzymatic autoxidation
reactions, such as isomerization of qH2Bip into a more stable 7,8-H2Bip
(H2Bip) isomer, and subsequent nonenzymatic oxidation reactions. The
quinonoid qH2Bip intermediate thus plays a key role in H4Bip-dependent
hydroxylation reactions. However, only a few experimental results
have indirectly confirmed this finding while revealing the difficulty
of isolating qH2Bip from H4Bip-containing solutions. As a result,
no current H4Bip assay method allows this isomer to be quantified
even by liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS).
Here, we report isolation, structural characterization, and abundance
of qH2Bip formed upon H4Bip autoxidation using three methods integrated
into MS/MS. First, we characterized the structure of the two observed
H2B isomers using IR photodissociation spectroscopy in conjunction
with quantum chemical calculations. Then, we used differential ion
mobility spectrometry to fully separate all oxidized forms of H4Bip
including qH2Bip. These data are consistent and show that qH2Bip can
also be unambiguously identified thanks to its specific MS/MS transition.
This finding paves the way for the quantification of qH2Bip with MS/MS
methods. Most importantly, the half-life value of this intermediate
is nearly equivalent to that of H4Bip (tens of minutes), suggesting
that an accurate method of H4Bip analysis should include the quantification
of qH2Bip.