High-Throughput Analyses of Therapeutic Antibodies Using High-Field Asymmetric Waveform Ion Mobility Spectrometry Combined with SampleStream and Intact Protein Mass Spectrometry.

Intact protein mass spectrometry (MS) coupled with liquid chromatography was applied to characterize the pharmacokinetics and stability profiles of therapeutic proteins. However, limitations from chromatography, including throughput and carryover, result in challenges with handling large sample numbers. Here, we combined intact protein MS with multiple front-end separations, including affinity capture, SampleStream, and high-field asymmetric waveform ion mobility spectrometry (FAIMS), to perform high-throughput and specific mass measurements of a multivalent antibody with one antigen-binding fragment (Fab) fused to an immunoglobulin G1 (IgG1) antibody. Generic affinity capture ensures the retention of both intact species 1Fab-IgG1 and the tentative degradation product IgG1. Subsequently, the analytes were directly loaded into SampleStream, where each injection occurs within ∼30 s. By separating ions prior to MS detection, FAIMS further offered improvement in signal-overnoise by ∼30% for denatured protein MS via employing compensation voltages that were optimized for different antibody species. When enhanced FAIMS transmission of 1Fab-IgG1 was employed, a qualified assay was established for spiked-in serum samples between 0.1 and 25 µg/mL, resulting in ∼10% accuracy bias and precision coefficient of variation. Selective FAIMS transmission of IgG1 as the degradation surrogate product enabled more sensitive detection of clipped species for intact 1Fab-IgG1 at 5 µg/mL in serum, generating an assay to measure 1Fab-IgG1 truncation between 2.5 and 50% with accuracy and precision below 20% bias and coefficient of variation. Our results revealed that the SampleStream-FAIMS-MS platform affords high throughput, selectivity, and sensitivity for characterizing therapeutic antibodies from complex biomatrices qualitatively and quantitatively.

Sensitive, High-Throughput, and Robust Trapping-Micro-LC-MS Strategy for the Quantification of Biomarkers and Antibody Biotherapeutics.

For LC-MS-based targeted quantification of biotherapeutics and biomarkers in clinical and pharmaceutical environments, high sensitivity, high throughput, and excellent robustness are all essential but remain challenging. For example, though nano-LC-MS has been employed to enhance analytical sensitivity, it falls short because of its low loading capacity, poor throughput, and low operational robustness. Furthermore, high chemical noise in protein bioanalysis typically limits the sensitivity. Here we describe a novel trapping-micro-LC-MS (T-µLC-MS) strategy for targeted protein bioanalysis, which achieves high sensitivity with exceptional robustness and high throughput. A rapid, high-capacity trapping of biological samples is followed by µLC-MS analysis; dynamic sample trapping and cleanup are performed using pH, column chemistry, and fluid mechanics separate from the µLC-MS analysis, enabling orthogonality, which contributes to the reduction of chemical noise and thus results in improved sensitivity. Typically, the selective-trapping and -delivery approach strategically removes >85% of the matrix peptides and detrimental components, markedly enhancing sensitivity, throughput, and operational robustness, and narrow-window-isolation selected-reaction monitoring further improves the signal-to-noise ratio. In addition, unique LC-hardware setups and flow approaches eliminate gradient shock and achieve effective peak compression, enabling highly sensitive analyses of plasma or tissue samples without band broadening. In this study, the quantification of 10 biotherapeutics and biomarkers in plasma and tissues was employed for method development. As observed, a significant sensitivity gain (up to 25-fold) compared with that of conventional LC-MS was achieved, although the average run time was only 8 min/sample. No appreciable peak deterioration or loss of sensitivity was observed after >1500 injections of tissue and plasma samples. The developed method enabled, for the first time, ultrasensitive LC-MS quantification of low levels of a monoclonal antibody and antigen in a tumor and cardiac troponin I in plasma after brief cardiac ischemia. This strategy is valuable when highly sensitive protein quantification in large sample sets is required, as is often the case in typical biomarker validation and pharmaceutical investigations of antibody therapeutics.

Strategy to improve the quantitative LC-MS analysis of molecular ions resistant to gas-phase collision induced dissociation: application to disulfide-rich cyclic peptides.

Due to observed collision induced dissociation (CID) fragmentation inefficiency, developing sensitive liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) assays for CID resistant compounds is especially challenging. As an alternative to traditional LC-MS/MS, we present here a methodology that preserves the intact analyte ion for quantification by selectively filtering ions while reducing chemical noise. Utilizing a quadrupole-Orbitrap MS, the target ion is selectively isolated while interfering matrix components undergo MS/MS fragmentation by CID, allowing noise-free detection of the analyte's surviving molecular ion. In this manner, CID affords additional selectivity during high resolution accurate mass analysis by elimination of isobaric interferences, a fundamentally different concept than the traditional approach of monitoring a target analyte's unique fragment following CID. This survivor-selected ion monitoring (survivor-SIM) approach has allowed sensitive and specific detection of disulfide-rich cyclic peptides extracted from plasma.

Bioactivation of 2-(alkylthio)-1,3,4-thiadiazoles and 2-(alkylthio)-1,3-benzothiazoles.

Certain functional groups/structural motifs are known to generate chemically reactive metabolites that can covalently modify essential cellular macromolecules and, therefore, have the potential to disrupt biological function and elicit idiosyncratic adverse drug reactions. In this report, we describe the bioactivation of 5-substituted 2-(alkylthio)-1,3,4-thiadiazoles and 2-(alkylthio)-1,3-benzothiazoles, which can be added to the growing list of structural alerts. When 5-substituted 2-(methylthio)-1,3,4-thiadiazoles and 2-(methylthio)-1,3-benzothiazole were incubated with pooled human liver microsomes in the presence of NADPH and GSH, unusual GSH adducts were formed. Characterization of these GSH adducts by high-resolution mass spectrometry indicated the replacement of the methylthio- group by GSH, and NMR experiments ascertained the proposed structures. On the basis of the metabolic profile change in incubation samples with/without GSH, we proposed that the GSH adduct formation involved two steps: (1) enzymatic oxidation of the alkylthio- group to form sulfoxide and sulfone and (2) nucleophilic displacement of the formed sulfoxide and sulfone by GSH. The proposed mechanism was confirmed by the formation of the same GSH adduct from the incubation of synthetically prepared sulfoxide and sulfone compounds in buffer. We found the sulfur oxidation step was significantly inhibited (80-100%) by preincubation with 1-aminobenzotriazole but was much less affected by thermoinactivation (0-45%), suggesting that the sulfoxidation step is primarily catalyzed by cytochrome P450s and not by flavin monooxygenases. We also investigated the presence of this bioactivation pathway in more than a dozen compounds containing 2-(alkylthio)-1,3,4-thiadiazole and 2-(alkylthio)-1,3-benzothiazoles. The common GSH adduct formation pathway demonstrated by current studies raises a new structural alert and potential liability in drug safety when 2-alkylthio derivatives of 1,3-benzothiazoles and 1,3,4-thiadiazoles are incorporated in drug design.

Cytochrome P450 11A1 bioactivation of a kinase inhibitor in rats: use of radioprofiling, modulation of metabolism, and adrenocortical cell lines to evaluate adrenal toxicity.

A drug candidate, BMS-A ((N-(4-((1H-pyrrolo[2,3-b]pyridin-4-yl)oxy)-3-fluorophenyl)-1-(4-fluorophenyl) 2-oxo-1,2-dihydropyridine- 3-carboxamide)), was associated with dose- and time-dependent vacuolar degeneration and necrosis of the adrenal cortex following oral administration to rats. Pretreatment with 1-aminobenzotriazole (ABT), a nonspecific P450 inhibitor, ameliorated the toxicity. In vivo and in vitro systems, including adrenal cortex-derived cell lines, were used to study the mechanism responsible for the observed toxicity. Following an oral dose of the C-14 labeled compound, two hydroxylated metabolites of the parent (M2 and M3) were identified as prominent species found only in adrenal glands and testes, two steroidogenic organs. In addition, a high level of radioactivity was covalently bound to adrenal tissue proteins, 40% of which was localized in the mitochondrial fraction. ABT pretreatment reduced localization of radioactivity in the adrenal gland. Low levels of radioactivity bound to proteins were also observed in testes. Both M3 and covalent binding to proteins were found in incubations with mitochondrial fraction isolated from adrenal tissue in the presence of NADPH. In vitro formation of M3 and covalent binding to proteins were not affected by addition of GSH or a CYP11B1/2 inhibitor, metyrapone (MTY), but were inhibited by ketoconazole (KTZ) and a CYP11A1 inhibitor, R-(+)-aminoglutethimide (R-AGT). BMS-A induced apoptosis in a mouse adrenocortical cell line (Y-1) but not in a human cell line (H295R). Metabolite M3 and covalent binding to proteins were also produced in Y-1 and to a lesser extent in H295R cells. The cell toxicity, formation of M3, and covalent binding to proteins were all diminished by R-AGT but not by MTY. These results are consistent with a CYP11A1-mediated bioactivation to generate a reactive species, covalent binding to proteins, and subsequently rat adrenal toxicity. The thorough understanding of the metabolism-dependent adrenal toxicity was useful to evaluate cross-species adrenal toxicity potential of this compound and related analogues.

Quantitative estimation of circulating metabolites without synthetic standards by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography/high resolution accurate mass spectrometry in combination with UV correction.

An early assessment of metabolite exposure in preclinical species can provide quantitative estimation on possible active or toxic metabolites. Frequently, synthetic metabolite standards are not available at the preclinical stage, precluding the quantitation of metabolites by means of calibration curves and quality control (QC) samples. We present here an approach to determine the extent of circulating metabolites using 'metabolite standards' generated by in vitro incubations in combination with the correction for mass spectrometry response based on UV response. The study was done by coupling ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) to LTQ-Orbitrap high-resolution mass spectrometry, and the quantitation was based on full scan high-resolution accurate mass analysis in combination with retention time. First, we investigated the separation capacity of a 10.5 min UHPLC method and the quantitative capability of an LTQ-Orbitrap for full scan accurate mass quantitation by spiking chemical standards of buspirone and its six metabolites in blank plasma. Then we demonstrated the use of a UV correction approach to quantitatively estimate buspirone and its metabolites in plasma samples from a rat pharmacokinetics study. We compared the concentration versus time profiles of buspirone and its six metabolites in rat plasma samples obtained using three different approaches, including using UV correction, using individual standard curves for each metabolite prepared from the synthetic standard, and using a calibration curve of the parent compound buspirone. We demonstrated the estimated metabolite exposure of buspirone using this UV correction approach resulted in rank ordering of metabolite exposure within three-fold of the value obtained with metabolite standards, in contrast to eight-fold without UV correction. The approach presented in this paper provides a practical solution to an unmet bioanalytical need for quantitative information on metabolites without standards in preclinical in vivo studies.

Algorithm for thorough background subtraction of high-resolution LC/MS data: application to obtain clean product ion spectra from nonselective collision-induced dissociation experiments.

Nonselective collision-induced dissociation (CID) is a technique for producing fragmentation products for all ions generated in an ion source. It is typical of liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) analysis of complex samples that matrix-related components may contribute to the resulting product ion spectra and confound the usefulness of this technique for structure interpretation. In this proof-of-principle study, a high-resolution LC/MS-based background subtraction algorithm was used to process the nonselective CID data to obtain clean product ion spectra for metabolites in human plasma samples. With buspirone and clozapine metabolites in human plasma as examples, this approach allowed for not only facile detection of metabolites of interest but also generation of their respective product ion spectra that were clean and free of matrix-related interferences. This was demonstrated with both an MS(E) technique (where E represents collision energy) with a quadrupole time-of-flight (QTOF) instrument and an in-source fragmentation technique with an LTQ Orbitrap instrument. The combined nonselective CID and background subtraction approach should allow for detection and structural interpretation of other types of sample analyses where control samples are obtained.

A Case Study to Identify the Drug Conjugation Site of a Site-Specific Antibody-Drug-Conjugate Using Middle-Down Mass Spectrometry.

Middle-down mass spectrometry (MD MS) has emerged as a promising alternative to classical bottom-up approaches for protein characterization. Middle-level experiments after enzymatic digestion are routinely used for subunit analysis of monoclonal antibody (mAb)-related compounds, providing information on drug load distribution and average drug-to-antibody ratio (DAR). However, peptide mapping is still the gold standard for primary amino acid sequence assessment, post-translational modifications (PTM), and drug conjugation identification and localization. However, peptide mapping strategies can be challenging when dealing with more complex and heterogeneous mAb formats, like antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs). We report here, for the first time, MD MS analysis of a third-generation site-specific DAR4 ADC using different fragmentation techniques, including higher-energy collisional- (HCD), electron-transfer (ETD) dissociation and 213 nm ultraviolet photodissociation (UVPD). UVPD used as a standalone technique for ADC subunit analysis afforded, within the same liquid chromatography-MS/MS run, enhanced performance in terms of primary sequence coverage compared to HCD- or ETD-based MD approaches, and generated substantially more MS/MS fragments containing either drug conjugation or glycosylation site information, leading to confident drug/glycosylation site identification. In addition, our results highlight the complementarity of ETD and UVPD for both primary sequence validation and drug conjugation/glycosylation site assessment. Altogether, our results highlight the potential of UVPD for ADC MD MS analysis for drug conjugation/glycosylation site assessment, and indicate that MD MS strategies can improve structural characterization of empowered next-generation mAb-based formats, especially for PTMs and drug conjugation sites validation.

Discovery of Potent Protease-Activated Receptor 4 Antagonists with in Vivo Antithrombotic Efficacy.

In an effort to identify novel antithrombotics, we have investigated protease-activated receptor 4 (PAR4) antagonism by developing and evaluating a tool compound, UDM-001651, in a monkey thrombosis model. Beginning with a high-throughput screening hit, we identified an imidazothiadiazole-based PAR4 antagonist chemotype. Detailed structure-activity relationship studies enabled optimization to a potent, selective, and orally bioavailable PAR4 antagonist, UDM-001651. UDM-001651 was evaluated in a monkey thrombosis model and shown to have robust antithrombotic efficacy and no prolongation of kidney bleeding time. This combination of excellent efficacy and safety margin strongly validates PAR4 antagonism as a promising antithrombotic mechanism.

Metabolite generation via microbial biotransformations with Actinomycetes: rapid screening for active strains and biosynthesis of important human metabolites of two development-stage compounds, 5-[(5S,9R)-9-(4-cyanophenyl)-3-(3,5-dichlorophenyl)-1-methyl-2,4-dioxo-1,3,7-triazaspiro[4.4]non7-yl-methyl]-3-thiophenecarboxylic acid (BMS-587101) and dasatinib.

The enzymes present in many microbial strains are capable of carrying out a variety of biotransformations when presented with drug-like molecules. Although the enzymes responsible for the biotransformations are not well characterized, microbial strains can often be found that produce metabolites identical to those found in mammalian systems. However, traditional screening for microbial strains that produce metabolites of interest is done with many labor intensive steps that include multiple shake flasks and many manual manipulations, which hinder the application of these techniques in drug metabolite preparation. A 24-well microtiter plate screening system was developed for rapid screening of actinomycetes strains for their ability to selectively produce metabolites of interest. The utility of this system was first demonstrated with the well characterized cytochrome P450 substrate diclofenac. Subsequently, the use of this system allowed the rapid identification of several actinomycetes strains that were capable of converting two drug candidates under development, 5-[(5S,9R)-9-(4-cyanophenyl)-3-(3,5-dichlorophenyl)-1-methyl-2,4-dioxo-1,3,7-triazaspiro[4.4]non7-yl-methyl]-3-thiophenecarboxylic acid and N-(2-chloro-6-methylphenyl)-2-[[6-[4-(2-hydroxyethyl)-1-piperazinyl)]-2-methyl-4-pyrimidinyl]amino)]-1,3-thiazole-5-carboxamide (dasatinib, Sprycel, BMS-345825), to mammalian metabolites of interest. Milligram quantities of the metabolites were then prepared by scaling-up the microbial biotransformation reactions. These quantities were sufficient for initial characterization, such as testing for pharmacological activity and use as analytical standards, prior to the availability of authentic chemically synthesized compounds.

Charge variant native mass spectrometry benefits mass precision and dynamic range of monoclonal antibody intact mass analysis.

The preponderance and diversity of charge variants in therapeutic monoclonal antibodies has implications for antibody efficacy and degradation. Understanding the extent and impact of minor antibody variants is of great interest, and it is also a critical regulatory requirement. Traditionally, a combination of approaches is used to characterize antibody charge heterogeneity, including ion exchange chromatography and independent mass spectrometric variant site mapping after proteolytic digestion. Here, we describe charge variant native mass spectrometry (CVMS), an integrated native ion exchange mass spectrometry-based charge variant analytical approach that delivers detailed molecular information in a single, semi-automated analysis. We utilized pure volatile salt mobile phases over a pH gradient that effectively separated variants based on minimal differences in isoelectric point. Characterization of variants such as deamidation, which are traditionally unattainable by intact mass due to their minimal molecular weight differences, were measured unambiguously by mass and retention time to allow confident MS1 identification. We demonstrate that efficient chromatographic separation allows introduction of the purified forms of the charge variant isoforms into the Orbitrap mass spectrometer. Our CVMS method allows confident assignment of intact monoclonal antibody isoforms of similar mass and relative abundance measurements across three orders of magnitude dynamic range.

An automated high throughput liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry process to assess the metabolic stability of drug candidates.

An automated high throughput process, termed the MetFast assay, is described to assess in vitro the general microsomal cytochrome P450 beta-nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate-mediated first-pass metabolic stability of potential drug candidates as a utility for pharmaceutical profiling. Utilizing robotic protocols with a multiprobe liquid handler, compounds are incubated with liver microsomes from different species. Samples are then analyzed by in-line liquid chromatography (LC)-mass spectrometry (MS) to determine the amount of compound remaining after a certain time, which allows calculation of metabolism rates. To quantitatively assess large numbers of structurally diverse compounds by LC-MS, a strategy based on an iterative two-step process was devised. Initially compounds are qualitatively analyzed by LC-ultraviolet (UV)/MS (step 1) to determine purity (UV detection) and structural integrity (MS detection). This step ensures that only correct and verified compounds with sufficient purity are being assayed to obtain reproducible high data quality. In addition, all necessary information is gathered to automatically generate specific quantitative methods for the subsequent bioanalytical analysis of metabolic stability samples by LC-UV/MS (step 2). In-house-developed, highly flexible and sophisticated data management software, termed SmartReport, is utilized for automated qualitative and quantitative LC-MS analysis set-up, data processing, and results reporting. The integration of key aspects, inherent "universal" collision-induced dissociation settings of ion trap mass spectrometers for tandem mass spectrometric scan functions utilized for compound-specific and sensitive quantitative MS methods, generic fast-LC conditions, generic MS instrument settings, and the functionality of SmartReport software resulted in an analytical process that routinely provides reproducible high-quality metabolic stability data on structurally diverse compounds. Described here is the setup of the MetFast assay, and metabolic stability data from assay validation compounds are given.

Development, optimization and implementation of a centralized metabolic soft spot assay.

AIM: High clearance is a commonly encountered issue in drug discovery. Here we present a centralized metabolic soft spot identification assay with adequate capacity and turnaround time to support the metabolic optimization needs of an entire discovery organization. METHODOLOGY: An integrated quan/qual approach utilizing both an orthogonal sample-pooling methodology and software-assisted structure elucidation was developed to enable the assay. Major metabolic soft spots in liver microsomes (rodent and human) were generated in a batch mode, along with kinetics of parent disappearance and metabolite formation, typically within 1 week of incubation. RESULTS & CONCLUSION: A centralized metabolic soft spot identification assay has been developed and has successfully impacted discovery project teams in mitigating instability and establishing potential structure-metabolism relationships.

A semi-automated method for the integrated evaluation of half-life and metabolic soft spots of discovery compounds.

BACKGROUND: An integrated method that provides rates of both parent disappearance and metabolite formation was developed. RESULTS: Buspirone, mirtazapine and verapamil were used as model compounds in developing the method. Incubations were carried out on a robotic platform. Qualitative analysis of metabolites in 30 µM samples was conducted by data-dependent HPLC-MS/MS on a high-resolution instrument. Quantitative analysis of the parent compound and metabolites in 0.5 µM samples was conducted by full-scan MS(2) with product ion extraction using an ion trap mass spectrometer. Data generated for the compounds included half-life and intrinsic clearance of the parent molecule, characterization of metabolites and relative rates of metabolite formation. A correction factor was used to convert MS responses of metabolites in 0.5 µM samples to UV areas in order to compare relative metabolite concentrations. CONCLUSION: The approach allows for the investigation of a set of six compounds simultaneously, with a turnaround time of 1 week or less.

On the inter-instrument and the inter-laboratory transferability of a tandem mass spectral reference library. 3. Focus on ion trap and upfront CID.

Mass spectral libraries represent versatile tools for the identification of small bioorganic molecules. Libraries based on electron impact spectra are rated robust and transferable. Tandem mass spectral libraries are often considered to work properly only on the instrument that has been used to build the library. An exception from that rule is the 'Wiley Registry of Tandem Mass Spectral Data, MSforID'. In various studies with data sets from different kinds of tandem mass spectrometric instruments, the outstanding sensitivity and robustness of this tandem mass spectral library search approach was demonstrated. The instrumental platforms tested, however, mainly included various tandem-in-space instruments. Herein, the results of a multicenter study with a focus on upfront and tandem-in-time fragmentation are presented. Five laboratories participated and provided fragment ion mass spectra from the following types of mass spectrometers: time-of-flight (TOF), quadrupole-hexapole-TOF, linear ion trap (LIT), 3-D ion trap and LIT-Orbitrap. A total number of 1231 fragment ion mass spectra were collected from 20 test compounds (amiloride, buphenin, cinchocaine, cyclizine, desipramine, dihydroergotamine, dyxirazine, dosulepin, ergotamine, ethambutol, etofylline, mefruside, metoclopramide, phenazone, phentermine, phenytoin, sulfamethoxazole, sulfamoxole, sulthiame and tetracycline) on seven electrospray ionization instruments using 18 different instrumental configurations for fragmentation. For 1222 spectra (99.3%), the correct compound was retrieved as the best matching compound. Classified matches (matches with 'relative average match probability' >40.0) were obtained for 1207 spectra (98.1%). This high percentage of correct identifications clearly supports the hypothesis that the tandem mass spectral library approach tested is a robust and universal identification tool.

Novel MS solutions inspired by MIST.

To improve patient safety and to help avoid costly late-stage failures, the pharmaceutical industry, along with the US FDA and International Committee on Harmonization (ICH), recommends the identification of differences in drug metabolism between animals used in nonclinical safety assessments and humans as early as possible during the drug-development process. LC-MS is the technique of choice for detection and characterization of metabolites, however, the widely different LC-MS response observed for a new chemical entity (NCE) and its structurally related metabolites limits the direct use of LC-MS responses for quantitative determination of NCEs and metabolites. While no method provides completely accurate universal response, UV, corona charged aerosol detection (CAD), radioactivity, NMR and low-flow (< 20 µl/min) nanospray approaches provide opportunities to quantify metabolites in the absence of reference standards or radiolabeled material with enough precision to meet the needs of early clinical development.

Prediction of in vivo enantiomeric compositions by modeling in vitro metabolic profiles.

Identification and quantitation of drug metabolites are important for understanding and predicting drug-drug interactions and toxicities. For chiral compounds, metabolic interconversion of enantiomers may present unique challenges. If the stereoisomers are biologically distinguishable, regulatory agencies consider them distinct chemical entities and require individual characterization since enantiomers may exhibit different pharmacokinetic, pharmacologic, and toxicologic properties. Efforts to predict enantiomeric ratios in humans from animal studies are frequently hampered by a lack of understanding of the enzymes responsible and potential interspecies differences. In this study, liver microsomes from rats, dogs, and monkeys were used to investigate the kinetics of interconversion of two enantiomeric secondary alcohols (Compounds A and C) via oxidation to a ketone intermediate (Compound B) and subsequent reduction of the ketone to either regenerate the starting alcohol, or produce the enantiomer. A mechanistic model was established using in vitro microsomal data to predict the ratios of the enantiomer concentrations in plasma 24 hours after dosing and the ratios of AUC values for the enantiomers. Plasma concentrations of the enantiomers and ketone intermediate were determined after single intravenous and oral doses of Compound C. The observed concentration and AUC ratios were similar to the values predicted by the mechanistic model.

Creation and comparison of MS/MS spectral libraries using quadrupole ion trap and triple-quadrupole mass spectrometers.

Searchable libraries of MS/MS spectra, obtained using liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) with data-dependent scan mode switching on both quadrupole ion trap and triple-quadrupole mass spectrometers in conjunction with electrospray ionization, are presented. The effects on library search scores of changing the parameters for producing collision-induced dissociation (CID) on both instrument types are systematically evaluated. These observations serve as a basis for determining a universal set of conditions for building MS/MS libraries. A group of 19 closely related steroids was used. The ability to obtain library-searchable spectra at low concentrations is demonstrated for the analysis of a sample of progesterone spiked with hydroxyprogesterone impurities at 0.1 and 0.01%.