Precision of micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography in the determination of seven antibiotics in pharmaceuticals and feedstuffs

Validation of analytical procedures is important for their efficient and reliable application. The International Conference on Harmonisation (ICH), Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and pharmacopoeia guidelines achieved a great deal in harmonising the definitions of the required validation characteristics. It is well known that poor reproducibility limits the practical implementation of capillary electrophoresis (CE). A precision study on four different MEKC methods was performed with 11 samples, containing seven antibiotics, by two analysts, in few days, on two capillary electrophoresis instruments. Five pharmaceutical preparations and three animal feeds were used. Precision was statistically analysed using migration time, peak area and height of each compound, as well as electroosmotic front (EOF). In 25 of 31 cases, the reproducibility of peak area, peak height and migration time was good (<5%). In most cases the reproducibility of peak area was much better than the reproducibility of peak height. The worst reproducibility that we observed was 12.7% for peak height and 7.6% for peak area.     

High-Throughput Analysis of Amino Acids for Protein Quantification in Plant and Animal-Derived Samples Using High Resolution Mass Spectrometry

Current methods for measuring the abundance of proteogenic amino acids in plants require derivatisation, extended run times, very sensitive pH adjustments of the protein hydrolysates, and the use of buffers in the chromatographic phases. Here, we describe a fast liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–MS) method for the determination of amino acids that requires only three steps: hydrolysis, neutralisation, and sample dilution with a borate buffer solution for pH and retention time stability. The method shows excellent repeatability (repeated consecutive injections) and reproducibility (repeated hydrolysis) in the amino acid content, peak area, and retention time for all the standard amino acids. The chromatographic run time is 20 min with a reproducibility and repeatability of <1% for the retention time and <11% for the peak area of the BSA and quality control (QC) lentil samples. The reproducibility of the total protein levels in the hydrolysis batches 1–4 was <12% for the BSA and the lentil samples. The level of detection on column was below 0.1 µM for most amino acids (mean 0.017 µM).     

New preconditioning strategy for the determination of inorganic anions with capillary zone electrophoresis using indirect UV detection

It is widely accepted that preconditioning procedures are indispensable in capillary electrophoresis in order to achieve reproducibility of migration times and peak areas. Several preconditioning strategies have been employed for electrophoretic determinations of inorganic anions using indirect UV detection including simple flushing with buffer or alkaline or acid pre-rinsing followed by flushing with electrolyte. We investigated the influence of various preconditioning strategies on the reproducibility of migration times and peak areas of inorganic anions. The electrolyte systems for indirect UV detection were based on pyromellitic acid and chromic acid respectively as UV absorbing probes and hexamethonium hydroxide as electroosmatic flow modifier. Preconditioning agents under investigation were electrolyte buffer, NaOH, HCl and the free acids of the UV absorbing probes. Investigations showed that reproducibility of migration times and peak areas can be significantly improved by acid pre-rinsing using the corresponding acid of the UV absorbing probes compared to preconditioning by flushing the capillary with buffer. In contrast to acid pre-rinsing using hydrochloric acid no interfering signals within the migration time window of inorganic anions under investigation can be observed. The optimized preconditioning procedure yields relative standard deviations of migration times less than 0.25% (n=10). Relative standard deviations of corrected peak areas were below 5% applying acid preconditioning using pyromellitic acid.     

Simple correction improving long‐term reproducibility of HPLC–MS

Chromatographic peak areas in long series of high‐performance liquid chromatography–MS experiments often vary, which decrease reproducibility and may cause bias in the results. It was found that the sensitivity of various components change differently; in our case, variability is in the order of 20–40%, and it is most likely due to changing conditions in electrospray ionization (ESI). The most often used peak area correction methods do not take this effect into account. The change in peak areas can be well described by a polynomial function; we found that a fourth‐order polynomial is most often suitable. We suggest a simple correction algorithm based on polynomial fitting. When the experiments were inherently well reproducible, this correction improved reproducibility from 12% to 3% (on average for various components). When random errors were larger, this improvement was less significant (15% to 12% in nano‐ESI) but nevertheless essential in order to avoid possible bias in the results. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Polymeric ionic liquid as additive for the high speed and efficient separation of aromatic acids by co-electroosmotic capillary electrophoresis

A simple and reliable co-electroosmotic capillary electrophoresis system for the fast determination of aromatic acids has been developed by employing poly (1-vinyl-3-butylimidazolium bromide) as the background electrolyte modifier. The polymeric ionic liquid was synthesized by the conventional radical polymerization. The reversed electroosmotic flow was obtained by adding a small amount of the polymeric ionic liquid (0.0006%, w/v) to the electrolyte. To further improve the resolution of aromatic acids, conditions including the concentration of polymeric ionic liquid and pH of background electrolytes were optimized. All eight aromatic acids were baseline resolved in one measurement in a short time (less than 3.5 min) under optimized conditions, 100 mM NaH₂PO₄ buffer containing 0.006% (w/v) polymeric ionic liquid, pH 6.0. Separation efficiencies were in the range from 355,000 to 943,000 (plates/m). Satisfactory reproducibility on the basis of the migration time of analytes was achieved. RSDs (n = 3) were less than 0.33% except the p-aminobenzoic acid (0.9%). The applicability of the present method has been demonstrated for the determination of water-soluble aromatic acids in a common drug for external use.     

Reproducibility of sample separation using liquid or forced air convection thermostatted high performance capillary electrophoresis systems

Run-to-run sample separation reproducibility has been compared on two commercial high performance capillary electrophoresis units which differ in the mode by which the capillary temperature is thermostatted. Three standard analytes, differing dramatically in molecular character and size, were used for the analysis: benzoic acid, a 14 amino acid peptide from human chorionic gonadotropin, and ribonuclease A represent, respectively, small stable organic molecules, small peptides with little or no secondary structure, and proteins with secondary structure. These standards were evaluated with regard to reproducibility of migration time, peak area, and peak height. The analyses, performed in buffers of optimum pH for the separations, demonstrated that the liquid and forced air convection thermostatted systems both performed extremely well. The reproducibility, as judged by the percent coefficient of variance (% CV) of replicate analyses, was generally found to be less than 1 % (migration time); the reproducibility decreased in the order migration time > peak height > peak area. Whereas the absolute % CV values for MT_rel (migration relative to a standard) observed with the liquid thermostatted system were 2- to 4-fold lower than those observed with the forced air convection thermostatted system, there was little statistically significant difference between the two. As expected, the data indicated a reduction in reproducibility as the complexity of the analyte increased, perhaps as the result of an increased potential for wall interactions. Comparing separations in which low (≈?1 watt/meter [W/m] of capillary) and high (>5 W/m) Joule heat was generated by altering the sodium chloride content of the buffer revealed few statistically significant differences in the reproducibility obtained from the two systems. With these particular standard analytes and their respective buffer systems, there appears to be little difference between forced air convection and liquid thermostatting of the capillary.     

一种新型毛细管区带电泳谱图记录模式的研究

提出一种以电通量域模式(吸收信号对电通量作图)代替以时间域模式(吸收信号对时间作图)记录毛细管区带电泳谱图的新模式.在阐述了这种记录模式优点的基础上,用常用的硼砂和磷酸盐体系在不同的电压和固定电压下分离了4种药物,其迁移时间的相对标准偏差分别在41.5%(不同电压下)和1.90%以上(固定电压),而相应的电通量的标准偏差都在1.05%以下,这进一步从实验角度证实了电通量域模式记录电泳谱图的优点:具有极强的抗电场强度波动和温度波动的能力,提高了再现性.以电通量模式记录电泳谱图,还可在一定程度上提高峰面积的重现性.这种记录模式降低了对仪器本身的要求(高压电压电源的稳定性和恒温装置),有可能促进国产低价位毛细管电泳仪的广泛使用     

分析测试新方法(197~203)毛细管电泳-间接紫外法用于太子参中的非衍生化氨基酸检测

建立了一种简单、快速测定赖氨酸(Lys)、脯氨酸(Pro)、亮氨酸(Leu)、丙氨酸(Ala)、组氨酸(His)、苏氨酸(Thr)、蛋氨酸(Met)、丝氨酸(Ser)和甘氨酸(Gly)的毛细管电泳-间接紫外检测方法.通过研究缓冲液的种类和浓度、缓冲液的p H等分离条件对被测组分分离度和灵敏度的影响,从而优化了分析条件.实验结果表明,用0.1mol/L氢氧化钠溶液调节14 mmol/L的对氨基苯磺酸至p H为11.2做为运行缓冲液,当分离电压为20 k V时,9组分在12 min内实现了完全分离.实验结果表明,方法能成功用于不同产地太子参药材中9种氨基酸的含量测定.方法重现性良好,迁移时间和峰高的RSD分别小于2.6%和4.5%(n=7).     

Direct determination of amino acids and carbohydrates by high-performance capillary electrophoresis with refractometric detection

This is an initial report to propose a novel approach in high-performance capillary electrophoresis (HPCE) for the direct detection of compounds without natural absorbance in the UV and visible spectral range, such as amino acids and carbohydrates. A refractometry detector with the 2 nl cell (Applied Systems, Minsk, Belarus) was employed to identify amino acids and carbohydrates without derivatization. The first results are provided on separation of seven free amino acids in the phosphate running buffer and three free carbohydrates in the borate-sodium dodecyl sulfate running buffer and detection by refractometer. Fused capillaries of 50 or 75 microm internal diameter and separation voltage (10-23 kV) were applied. Detection limits ranged typically from 10 to 100 fmol and the response was linear over two orders of magnitude for most of the amino acids and carbohydrates. The HPCE system demonstrated good long-term stability and reproducibility with a relative standard deviation, less than 5% for the migration time (n=10).     

Interlaboratory reproducibility of mobility parameters in capillary electrophoresis for substance identification in systematic toxicological analysis

An interlaboratory pilot study was performed to determine the reproducibility of mobility parameters in capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) and micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC). The study was performed by an intended small number of laboratories (three) that used different brands of instruments (two). The effective mobility was corrected using standards by a method that was recently introduced to obtain a more reproducible migration parameter. A test set of 20 acidic test compounds and 5 reference compounds were analyzed during five days in each laboratory using CZE and MEKC. Buffers used consisted of 90 mM borate set at pH 8.4 (CZE) and 20 mM phosphate, 50 mM sodium dodecyl sulfate set at pH 7.5 (MEKC). Analyses were carried out using fused-silica capillaries at an electric field strength of either 52.6 kV/m or 37.5 kV/m. The interlaboratory reproducibility (mean RSD) of the effective mobility was 3.0% for CZE and 6.7% for MEKC. After applying the correction method, these values became 3.0% for CZE and 3.3% for MEKC, which is adequate for systematic toxicological analysis (STA) applications. A significant improvement of reproducibility for the calculated corrected effective mobility mu(eff)c was observed when variations are high. Therefore, it is recommended to use the correction method in interlaboratory situations, especially when instruments and capillaries from different manufacturers are used.     

Gas chromatographic determination of serum bile acids — Application of a novel extraction procedure

Summary The profile of serum bile acids is a result of their liver metabolism and enterohepatic circulation.In the present work size exclusion chromatography is used for extraction of serum bile acids to optimize the methodology for analyzing serum bile acids by high resolution gas chromatography.Compared to other extraction methods like adsorption-[1–3] or reversed phase chromatography [4,5], this novel technique yielded a satisfactory recovery (75–104%) with high reproducibility. Therefore a reliable determination of serum bile acids is possible.     

Separation of twenty underivatized essential amino acids by capillary zone electrophoresis with contactless conductivity detection

Twenty underivatized essential amino acids were separated using capillary zone electrophoresis and consequently detected with contactless conductivity detection (CCD). A simple acidic background electrolyte (BGE) containing 2.3 M acetic acid and 0.1% w/w hydroxyethylcellulose (HEC) allowed the electrophoretic separation and sensitive detection of all 20 essential amino acids in their underivatized cationic form. The addition of HEC to the BGE suppressed both, electroosmotic flow and analyte adsorption on the capillary surface resulting in an excellent migration time reproducibility and a very good analyte peak symmetry. Additionally, the HEC addition significantly reduced the noise and long-term fluctuations of the CCD baseline. The optimized electrophoretic separation method together with the CCD was proved to be a powerful technique for determination of amino acid profiles in various natural samples, like beer, yeast, urine, saliva, and herb extracts.     

Rapid separation and analysis of six organic acids in Bayer liquors by RP-HPLC after solid-phase extraction

A rapid revised phase high-performance liquid chromatographic (RP-HPLC) method for the determination of six organic acids in Bayer liquors is reported. Oxalic, tartaric, acetic, succinic, glutaric and butene dicarboxylic acid were separated and quantified in 10 min. First time repeatability, reproducibility and recoveries were determined out for these acids in Bayer liquors. The organic acids were removed from Bayer liquor by using a solid-phase extraction procedure with anion-exchange cartridges. The chromatographic separation was achieved with only one Kromasil RP-C18 column thermo stated at 25 degrees C. Organic acids were detected with a UV-vis detector (215 nm). The precision results showed that the relative standard deviations of the repeatability and reproducibility were < 2.80% and < 3.74%, respectively. The accuracy of the method was confirmed with an average recovery ranging between 85.2 and 107.3%. Under optimum conditions the detection limits ranged from 50 to 1000 mg/L.     

Optimization of the separation of a group of antifungals by capillary zone electrophoresis

Two simple, rapid, and efficient methods for the analysis of seven antifungal compounds have been developed by capillary zone electrophoresis. Resolutions higher than 1.5 were obtained using 0.025 M phosphate buffer (pH 2.30) (analysis time close to 9 min) or 0.2 M formic acid (pH 2.15) (analysis time close to 6 min), with an applied voltage of 20 kV and a temperature of 30 degrees C. The highest sensitivity and selectivity can be obtained using phosphate buffer but the shortest analysis times are achieved in the formic system. The analytical characteristics of the optimized methods were investigated. The reproducibility obtained for migration times (RSD(n = 10) < or = 1.0%) and peak areas (RSD(n = 10) < or = 4.3%) was acceptable, but better reproducibilities were obtained when verapamil was used as internal standard (RSD(n = 10) < 0.4% for relative migration times and RSD(n = 10) < or = 2.2% for peak area ratios). The lowest limit of detection was obtained for clotrimazole (0.12 microg/ml) and the highest for fluconazole and voriconazole (0.90 microg/ml). The lowest and the highest limits of quantitation were, respectively, 0.40 microg/ml for clotrimazole and 3.00 microg/ml for fluconazole and voriconazole.     

Intra- and interinstrument reproducibility of migration parameters in capillary electrophoresis for substance identification in systematic toxicological analysis

The intra- and interinstrument reproducibilities of four capillary electrophoresis instruments were studied for identification purposes in systematic toxicological analysis (STA). A test set of 20 acidic test compounds and 5 reference compounds were analyzed for five days on each instrument using capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) and micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC). The buffers consisted of 90 mM borate set at pH 8.4 (CZE) and 20 mM phosphate and 50 mM sodium dodecyl sulfate set at pH 7.5 (MEKC). All analyses were carried out using fused silica capillaries at an electric field strength of 52.6 kV/m. The use of a reproducible identification parameter is very important in STA. To deal with the poor reproducibility of the migration time, we recently introduced the corrected effective mobility. In this study, we investigated the intra- and interinstrument reproducibility of the migration time, the effective mobility, and the corrected effective mobility. Large differences in intra-instrument reproducibility were found when the migration time was used. The calculation of the effective mobility and the corrected effective mobility diminished these differences and enhanced the interinstrument reproducibility roughly by a factor 3. For (corrected) effective mobilities, intrainstrument reproducibilities were between 0.8-2.6% and interinstrument reproducibilities were between 3.2-3.9%.     

Rapid determination of minority organic acids in honey by high-performance liquid chromatography

A rapid high-performance liquid chromatographic method for the determination of organic acids in honey is reported. Malic, maleic, citric, succinic and fumaric acids were identified and quantified in 15 min. First time repeatibility, reproducibility and recoveries were determined out for these acids in honey samples. Maleic acid was also quantified for first time by a chromatographic method. The organic acids were removed from honey by using a solid-phase extraction procedure with anion-exchange cartridges. Previously, the solution of honey was adjusted to pH 10.50 with 0.1 M NaOH and stirred for 15 min at room temperature. Then, this solution was adjusted to pH 5.00 with 0.1 M H2SO4. This procedure was carried out to avoid interferences in the baseline. The chromatographic separation was achieved with only one Spherisorb ODS-2 S5 column thermostated at 25 degrees C. Metaphosphoric acid (pH 2.20) was used as mobile phase at a flow-rate of 0.7 ml/min. Organic acids were detected with a UV-vis detector (215 nm). The precision results showed that the relative standard deviations of the repeatability and reproducibility were < or =3.20% and < or =4.86%, respectively. The recoveries of the organic acids ranged from 62.9 to 99.4%. Under optimum conditions the detection limits ranged from 0.0064 to 7.57 mg/kg and the quantification limits ranged from 0.025 to 10.93 mg/kg.     

Amino acids determination using capillary electrophoresis with on-capillary derivatization and laser-induced fluorescence detection

Free amino acids have been derivatized on-capillary with 3-(2-furoyl)quinoline-2-carboxaldehyde (FQ) and analyzed using a laboratory-made capillary electrophoresis apparatus with laser-induced fluorescence detection. Several parameters that control on-capillary derivatization of amino acids, including pH, mixing time, reaction time, concentration of the derivatization reagents (potassium cyanide and FQ) and solvent of FQ, as well as the temperature of mixing and reaction were optimized. Repeatabilities better than 1.8% for migration time and 7.8% for peak height were obtained. Assay detection limits for the different amino acids ranged from 23 nM for glycine to 50 nM for lysine and glutamic acid. The methods developed were applied to the analysis of several amino acids in pharmaceutical preparations and plasma samples. Results showed a good agreement with those obtained using an amino acid autoanalyzer for the same samples.     

A novel method for serum lipoprotein profiling using high performance capillary isotachophoresis

A new capillary isotachophoresis (cITP) method for lipoprotein profiling with superior lipoprotein coverage compared to previous methods has been developed, resolving twice as many lipoprotein species (18 peaks/fractions) in serum or plasma in less than 9.5 min. For this, a novel mixture of 24 spacers, including amino acids, dipeptides and sulfonic acids, was developed and fine-tuned, using predictive software (PeakMaster) and testing of spiked serum samples. Lipoprotein peaks were identified by serum-spiking with reference lipoproteins. Compatibility with common lipophilic stains for selective lipoprotein detection with either UV/Vis or laser-induced fluorescence was demonstrated. A special new capillary with a neutral coating (combining water-compatible OV1701-OH deactivation and methylation) was used for the first time for electrodriven separations, allowing very stable separations in a pH 8.8–9.4 gradient system, being functional for more than 100 injections. Excellent reproducibility was achieved, with coefficients of variation lower than 2.6% for absolute migration times. Comparison was performed with human plasma samples analyzed by NMR, leading to similar results with cITP after multivariate statistics, regarding group-clustering and lipoprotein species correlation. The new cITP method was applied to the analysis of serum samples from a LDL receptor knock-out mice model fed either a normal diet or a western-type diet. Differences in the lipoprotein levels and in the sublipoprotein types were detected, showing a shift to more atherogenic particles due to the high cholesterol diet. In summary, this novel method will allow more detailed and informative profiling of lipoprotein particle subtypes for cardiovascular disease research.     

毛细管电泳-间接紫外检测法测定蜂蜜中的氨基酸

采用毛细管电泳-间接紫外检测法同时分离测定蜂蜜中的赖氨酸、色氨酸、谷氨酸等9种氨基酸。考察了磷酸浓度、进样方式和缓冲液pH对分离效率和重现性的影响。在分离电压为-15 kV、检测波长为220 nm条件下,以含有0.5 mmol/L十六烷基三甲基溴化铵、20 mmol/L烟酸、10%甲醇的10 mmol/L磷酸二氢钠缓冲溶液(pH 10.2)为运行缓冲液,9种组分在11 min内达到基线分离;检出限最低可达到0.3 mg/L;线性范围为1.0~1000 mg/L;日间及日内精密度为0.64%~5.83%。实际样品中除甲硫氨酸外的8种氨基酸的加标回收率为60.00%~118.37%。将该方法应用于不同蜜源植物和产地的蜂蜜样品的测定,在市售的5种蜂蜜中均检测到脯氨酸、丝氨酸和天冬氨酸,而只在荔枝蜜中检测到苏氨酸。该方法可以为蜂蜜的蜜源鉴别及质量评估提供借鉴方法。