Patent ID: 8003395

Claim:
A method for detecting a phosphomonoester-containing compound, said method comprising the steps of: providing a sample to be assayed for the presence of a phosphomonoester-containing compound; providing a non-signal imidazole reagent, said reagent having the structure: wherein either R 1 or R 2 is hydrogen (H) or deuterium (D), B comprises one to eight carbon atoms, A comprises an aryl group, and at least one of A or B is substituted with one or more atoms or groups other than H when A is phenyl and B comprises an amide group; and wherein the imidazole reagent has no ionic group; combining said sample and said non-signal imidazole reagent, wherein said non-signal imidazole reagent forms a product comprising a phosphorimidazolide anion signal group with any reactable phosphomonoester-containing compound in said sample; and detecting said product as a phosphorimidazolide anion by mass spectrometry.