I have extracellular as well as intracellular metabolite. I have dried the sample both by lyophilizing and air drying at room temperature. It usually takes one week to get the powdered sample after complete drying. Is there any possibility of degradation of any compound present in the sample with these drying processes? Since I have to identify all the specific components present in the sample through LC-MS analysis.
There is always a possibility, in a biological system, and presumably you do not know the stability or other characteristics of the molecule(s) in question.
Freeze drying, with the sample at reduced temperature, is the least likely drying method to cause degredation to your sample. Moving the dry sample to dry storage in a refrigerator, or better still, a freezer - the lower the temperature the better, is generally viewed as the safest.
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