Quantification of enantiomers and blind identification of erythro -sphingosine non-racemates by cold ion spectroscopy.

Enantiomers of a lipid erythro -sphingosine have been quantified with ≈4% accuracy by UV cold ion spectroscopy of their non-covalent complexes with a chiral aromatic molecule. The diastereomeric configuration of such complexes enables the quantification using just a single enantiomeric lipid standard and the identification of non-racemic solutions with no standards at all.