Determination of Abnormal Hemoglobins by the Combined use of Reversed-Phase high Performance Liquid Chromatography and Fast Atom Bombardment Mass Spectrometry

Abstract
Separation by reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) of peptide mixtures obtained from tryptic digestion of abnormal human hemoglobins and subsequent analysis by fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry (FAB-MS) of selected peptides allow unambiguous, rapid identification of the hemoglobin variants. By this method two varied hemoglobins, Hb D Punjab and Hb J Sardegna, have been determined. The methodology described, which is simple and reliable, could be used for the detection and structural identification of known and unknown Hb variants, without amino acid (a.a.) or sequence analysis.