Retention prediction of phenylthiohydantoin amino acid derivatives in reversed-phase liquid chromatography

Summary The concept of retention prediction for the separation of phenylthiohydatoin-amino acid derivatives in isocratic reversed-phase liquid chromatography is described. A novel retention-solubility parameter, R, is defined, for the retention prediction strategy and the performance of this R value is evaluated by comparing measured and predicted retention data. Excellent agreement between these values were observed. It is concluded that the R value has a very high potential in describing the retention of phenylthiohydantopinamino acid derivatives withdifferent types of separation systems consisting of C-18, C-8 and phenethyl bonded stationary phases and various mobile phases.     

High sensitivity analysis of phenylthiohydantoin amino acid derivatives by electrospray mass spectrometry

A new methodology has been developed for high sensitivity electrospray ionization mass spectrometric analyses of phenylthiohydantoin (PTH) amino acid derivatives. Key components of the methodology are the use of a solvent system consisting of methanol/dichloromethane (1:1 v/v) containing 5-mM lithium triflate, a stainless steel electrode having a relatively large surface area, and a microscale electrospray nozzle that provides for stable electrospray at flow rates in the range of 100–500 nL/min. A linear response for the absolute signal intensity of the protonated molecule was observed for a number of derivatives over the concentration range of 50–1000 fmol/µL. For all except the arginine derivative, there was a decrease in the signal intensity with increasing flow rate with 100–300 nL/min being optimum. Collision induced dissociation (CID) product ion spectra were obtained for 21 derivatives including carboxymethyl cysteine and dehydrothreonine. Leucine and isoleucine can be distinquished on the basis of their CID product ion spectra. A subfemtomole detection limit was demonstrated for the phenylalanine PTH derivative in a selected reaction monitoring (SRM) experiment. Samples from an automated Edman microsequencer run have been analyzed using the new technique and compared to results obtained by conventional high-performance liquid chromatography analysis with UV detection. This work demonstrates the feasibility of using mass spectrometry to identify and quantitate the products generated by automated protein microsequencing using standard Edman degradation chemistry.     

Open-flask alkaline hydrolysis of amino acid phenylthiohydantoin derivatives.

It is suggested that the open-flask system for the acid hydrolysis of proteins described earlier can also be used to advantage for the alkaline hydrolysis of amino acid phenylthiohydantoin derivatives obtained in protein sequential analysis according to Edman. Results obtained under nitrogen and argon atmospheres are reported for the hydrolysis of 0.5 mumole of each phenylthiohydantoin derivative, which is the amount of protein that is usually employed in an automatic sequenator.     

Gas-liquid chromatography of amino acids: Columns and methodology as a basis for routine amino acid analysis using glass capillary gas chromatography

A carefully Standardized technique is described for the preparation of glass capillary columns which can be used successfully for routine quantitative amino acid analysis. Comparison is made between two different modes of sample injection. Preliminary quantitative results from “split” injection and “on-column” injection techniques are evaluated statistically and it is concluded that the “on-column” system is a prerequisite for quantitative amino acid analysis by glass capillary gas chromatography. An analysis of fish muscle protein hydrolyzate illustrates an application of this technique and results are compared with those from a packed column analysis.     

Capillary electrophoresis and column chromatography in biomedical chiral amino acid analysis

Free amino acids are typically quantified as the sum of their enantiomers, because in terrestrial organisms they mainly exist in the left-handed form. However, with increasing understanding of the biological significance of right-handed amino acids interest in enantioselective quantification of amino acids has steadily increased. Initially, electrophoretic and chromatographic methods using chiral (pseudo)-stationary phases or chiral eluents were applied to the separation of amino acid enantiomers. Later, derivatization of amino acids prior to chromatography with chiral reagents gained in popularity, because the diastereomers formed can be resolved on conventional reversed-phase columns. Novel multi-interaction chiral columns turned attention back to direct chiral chromatographic methods. Hyphenation to mass spectrometry has increasingly replaced optical detection because of superior selectivity, although this has not obviated the need for baseline resolution of amino acid enantiomers. Despite the progress made, enantioselective separation and quantification of amino acids remains an analytical challenge owing to frequently incomplete resolution of all naturally occurring enantiomers and insufficient sensitivity for the determination of the trace amounts of d-amino acids typically found in biological fluids and tissues. Chiral GC-MS analysis of heptafluorobutanol/pentafluoropropionanhydride amino acid derivatives on an Rt-gDEXsa column     

Methylthiohydantoin amino acids: chromatographic separation and comparison to phenylthiohydantoin amino acids

Most phenylthiohydantoin (PTH) amino acids and most methylthiohydantoin (MTH) amino acids may be separated from one another by thin-layer chromatography (TLC) using the same sequential development technique with the same two solvents. Similarly, a single solvent system may be used in high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to separate most PTH-amino acids and most MTH-amino acids. When both TLC and HPLC separations are performed on a sample, all MTH-and PTH-amino acids can be uniquely identified. Since many solid-phase protein sequencing techniques generate both MTH-and PTH-amino acids, these analytical systems simplify identification of the amino acid derivatives. Although the chromatographic properties of MTH-and PTH-amino acids are similar, they are not identical (contrary to a previous report).     

Post-column labeling techniques in amino acid analysis by liquid chromatography

Amino acid analysis (AAA) has always presented an analytical challenge in terms of sample preparation, separation, and detection. Because of the vast number of amino acids, various separation methods have been applied taking into consideration the large differences in their chemical structures, which span from nonpolar to highly polar side chains. Numerous separation methods have been developed in the past 60 years, and impressive achievements have been made in the fields of separation, derivatization, and detection of amino acids (AAs). Among the separation methods, liquid chromatography (LC) prevailed in the AAA field using either pre-column or post-column labeling techniques in order to improve either separation of AAs or selectivity and sensitivity of AAA. Of the two approaches, the post-column technique is a more rugged and reproducible method and provides excellent AAs separation relatively free from interferences. This review considers current separations combined with post-column labeling techniques for AAA, comparison with the pre-column methods, and the strategies used to develop effective post-column methodology. The focus of the article is on LC methods coupled with post-column labeling techniques and studying the reactions to achieve optimum post-column derivatization (PCD) conditions in order to increase sensitivity and selectivity using various types of detectors (UV–Vis, fluorescence, electrochemical etc.) and illustrating the versatility of the PCD methods for practical analysis.

Multi-linear gradient elution optimization for separation of phenylthiohydantoin amino acids using pareto optimality method

Multi-linear gradient elution was applied for simultaneous optimization of resolution and analysis times for ten phenylthiohydantoin amino acids (PTH-AAs) in liquid chromatography. Relation of lnK upon φ for each analyte was determined using isocratic retention time data, and gradient retention time of analytes was predicted using fundamental equation of gradient elution. Then a grid search program was used to predict retention time of solutes in variable space. Two different chromatographic goals-analysis time and minimum difference between adjacent peaks- were simultaneously evaluated using Pareto optimality method. Gradient program in optimum condition was: initially 24% CH₃OH/Water for 10 min, linear ramp to 34% over 5 min, to 29% over 5 min, and to 70% over 20 min. The average of calculated relative error in the prediction of the retention time in optimal conditions was -1.67% that shows a good agreement between predicted and experimental values of the chromatographic retention time in optimal condition.     

Addition of modifier in supercritical fluid chromatography using a microbore reciprocating pump

Summary Solubilities of polar analytes in supercritical CO₂ can be enhanced by the addition of polar modifiers. The addition of modifier into an SFC system using a low cost reciprocating pump has been studied. Two different mixing chambers were evaluated for mixing the supercritical CO₂ with modifier. It appeared that a mixing chamber with a packed bed was enough to reduce baseline noise from the modifier pump. Results from the effect of pressure and temperature with various modifier flow rates were obtained. High percentages of modifier (>15%) at a low CO₂ pressure (2000 psi) caused baseline instability. In addition, different I.D. columns were tested with the system and the effect of modifier compressiblity on detector noise was also studied. Several pharmaceutical compounds were separated to demonstrate system performance.     

Thin-layer chromatography of amino acid hydantoins

Amino acid hydantoins were detected directly in amounts of 0.2–0.5 μg with tert.-butyl hypochlorite. The amino acid hydantoins were separated by thin-layer chromatography using the following solvent systems: (I) chloroform-ethanol-formic acid (2:1:1); (II) n-butyl acetate-ethanol-formic acid (12:2:1); (III) dichloroethane-ethanol-formic acid (80:20:1); and (IV) n-butanol-acetic acid-water (15:2:5). The terminal amino groups of several proteins were detected successfully.     

Determination of teicoplanin in plasma using microbore high-performance liquid chromatography and injection-generated gradients.

A reversed-phase isocratic high-performance liquid chromatographic method for the determination of total teicoplanin in plasma is reported. The method developed uses a bracketing injection technique in conjunction with large injection volumes on a 1 mm diameter column to form a limited injection-generated gradient. The chromatography yields adequate resolution among all the major components for individual quantitation and also allows quantitation of total teicoplanin in plasma using ultraviolet detection. Pretreatment is by solid-phase extraction which uses C8 Bond Elut cartridges and gives effective clean up from endogenous materials. The method offers a faster and simplified means to determine total teicoplanin in plasma than those previously reported, and has a detection limit of 50 ng/ml.     

Recent advancements in amino acid analysis using capillary electrophoresis

Recent advances in the analysis of amino acids using capillary electrophoresis are addressed. This area of research continues to receive increased attention as is evident from the 62 references reviewed. This review discusses current detection strategies including UV absorbance, laser-induced fluorescence, electrochemical, and others. Separation methodologies for both derivatized and underivatized amino acids are reviewed. Both direct and indirect enantiomeric resolution of amino acids are addressed. Applications utilizing capillary electrophoresis for the analysis of amino acids are discussed. This review covers literature published in 1997 and 1998.