Application of hybrid surface technology for improving sensitivity and peak shape of phosphorylated lipids such as phosphatidic acid and phosphatidylserine

•Use of HST increased analyte recovery minimizing analyte-metal surface interactions.•Improved peak shape and reduced tailing were also seen for phosphorylated lipids.•These improvements increased sensitivity and reproducibility for these analytes.•The HST provided enhanced lipidomic coverage for phosphorylated lipids.•The HST did not affect the use of CSH C18 columns for other lipid classes. The use of hybrid surface technology (HST), applied to the metal surfaces of an ACQUITY™ UPLC™ system and column, designed to mitigate the chelation, poor peak shape and analyte loss seen with acidic phospholipids was investigated. Compared to a conventional system significant improvements in both sensitivity, recovery and peak shape were obtained following UPLC on a CSH C18 column when the HST was used for the analysis of lysophosphatidic acid (LPA), phosphatidic acid (PA), lysophosphatidylserine (LPS), phosphatidylserine (PS), phosphatidylinositol-monophosphates (PIP), ceramide phosphate (CerP) and sphingoid base phosphate (SPBP). The benefits in chromatographic performance provided by the HST were seen particularly at low concentrations of these analytes. The HST system and column reduced peak tailing by 65–80% and peak width by 70–86% for LPA and PA. Moreover, increased signal intensities of up to 12.7 times were observed for LPA with the HST approach compared to the equivalent untreated LC system and column. The application of this methodology to the analysis of chicken egg PA and brain porcine PS extracts were accompanied by similar improvements in data quality.