Pseudouridine detection improvement by derivatization with methyl vinyl sulfone and capillary HPLC–mass spectrometry

A method is presented for improved detection of pseudouridine in nucleoside mixtures based on the specific derivatization with methyl vinyl sulfone followed by analysis by capillary HPLC–mass spectrometry. Reaction conditions were optimized in order to obtain the best yield and specificity. The method was successfully applied to different nucleoside mixtures.