Nanosized cation exchanger for the electrophoretic separation and preconcentration of catecholamines and amino acids

The first example of application of nanosized polystyrene-based cation exchanger (NSCE) with sulfo groups as a dynamic coating of capillary walls was demonstrated. The conditions of dynamic coating formation were optimized and ensured the long-term stability of the coating. Capillary-to-capillary and day-to-day repeatabilities were 4% and 3%, correspondingly. The NSCE coating stability at various pH and influence of pH on the EOF mobility were investigated. The developed NSCE-modified coated capillaries provided improved resolution (R_s = 0.9–3.2 for catecholamines and R_s = 1.7–2.8 for amino acids) and efficiencies (330–520 ×10³ t.p./m) of basic analytes, which are 1.5 times higher compared to untreated capillary. The optimized conditions were as follows: 50 mM phosphate buffer solution at pH 2.2 with 5 μM NSCE. The effect of the NSCE concentration in BGE on the electrophoretic mobilities of the analytes was investigated. The various online concentration techniques were tested in order to decrease the LODs. The simultaneous application of NSCE capillaries and field-amplified sample stacking provided the lowest LODs of catecholamines and amino acids and allowed to determine these analytes in human urine.     

Chiral capillary electrophoretic separation of amino acids derivatized with 9-fluorenylmethylchloroformate using mixed chiral selectors of beta-cyclodextrin and sodium taurodeoxycholate

Chiral separation of 19 pairs of amino acid (AA) enantiomers derivatized with 9-fluorenylmethylchloroformate (FMOC) was successfully conducted by capillary electrophoresis using the mixture of beta-CD and sodium taurodeoxycholate (STDC) as selectors. Resolution was considerably superior to that obtained by using either beta-CD or STDC alone. After a systematic inspection, a buffer composed of 150 mM borate and 18% v/v isopropanol at pH 8.0, dissolved with 30 mM beta-CD and 30 mM STDC, was adopted and able to generate baseline resolution (>1.50) for 17 pairs of FMOC-AA enantiomers and somewhat lower resolution for arginine (1.36) and alanine (1.18), respectively. Experimental data revealed that the addition of the second selector did not increase the mobility difference between a pair of enantiomers (Delta mu = mu(D) - mu(L) and the number of theoretical plates (N), but decreased the summed apparent mobility of a pair of enantiomers (Sigma mu = mu(D) - mu(L)), which was mainly due to the decrease of the electroosmotic flow. The variation of Sigma mu was thus the major reason responsible for the improvement of chiral resolution in this study. The result demonstrated that not only the intrinsic selectivity of the selectors was the basis of the chiral separation, but also the non-chiral effect of the selectors, the change of the electroosmotic flow, was an important factor in enhancing the enantioseparation resolution. This study could probably help to explain the reasons for resolution improvement in some dual selectors systems, which are not very clear at present.     

Dynamic control and indirect absorption detection for high-speed capillary electrophoretic separation of organic acids

Dynamic control and indirect absorption detection have been combined for the separation of eight small aliphatic organic acids in less than 4 min. Electroosmotic flow (EOF) coefficients in 5 mM 8-hydroxyquinoline-5-sulfonic acid (8-HQSA) (pH 3.00) and 3 mM 1,2,4,5-benzenetetracarboxylic acid (BTA) solutions are 4.35 and 1.65·10⁻⁴ cm²/V s, respectively. In the BTA system, relatively large amounts of sodium ions adsorbed into the capillary wall are the most probable reason for the small EOF, in turn causing problems for the separation of all acids. In contrast to BTA, 8-HQSA could be used for the separation of all eight organic acids. Limits of detection of analytes are at the level of several tens of μM at pH 3.00 in the 8-HQSA system. This new technique provides several features such as high speed, reasonable resolution and sensitivity, and ease of operation.     

Capillary electrophoretic separation of amino acids: Fraction collection

A simple method is described which enables solutes to be collected at an electrically isolated exit after they have been separated by a free solution capillary electrophoretic system. The method is illustrated by the separation of dansyl amino acids using multiple separation capillaries.     

A facile and sensitive chemiluminescence detection of amino acids in biological samples after capillary electrophoretic separation

It was found that native amino acids enhanced the chemiluminescence (CL) reaction between luminol and BrO(-) in an alkaline aqueous solution. This has led to the development of a facile and highly sensitive CL detection scheme for the determination of amino acids in biological samples after capillary electrophoretic (CE) separation. The CE-CL conditions were optimized. An electrophoretic buffer of 2.5 x 10(-2) M sodium borate (pH 9.4) containing 1 x 10(-4) M luminol was used. The oxidizer solution of 8 x 10(-4) M NaBrO in 0.1 M sodium carbonate buffer solution (pH 12.5) was introduced post-column. Under the optimal conditions, the detection limits were 1.0 x 10(-7) M for glutamic acid (Glu) and 1.3 x 10(-7) M (S/N = 3) for aspartic acid (Asp). The relative standard deviations (RSDs) of peak area and migration time were in the ranges of 3.8-4.3% and 1.4-1.6%, respectively. The present method was applied to the determination of excitatory amino acids (i.e., Asp and Glu) in rat brain tissue and monkey plasma. The levels of these major excitatory amino acids in monkey plasma were quantified for the first time and found to be 1.17 +/- 0.17 x 10(-5) M (mean +/- SD, n = 6) for Glu and 1.64 +/- 0.19 x 10(-6) M for Asp, which were comparable with the levels in human plasma.     

Indirect conductimetric detection of amino acids after liquid chromatographic separation

A liquid chromatographic method using indirect conductimetric detection is proposed for the determination of low levels of organic compounds, which does not require any special functional characteristics of the analyte. The signal detected is proportional to the molar concentration of the analyte and independent of its nature. The detector response is linearly dependent on analyte concentrations over at least three orders of magnitude. The basis of the detection is to create a conducting background, which will decrease on elution of the organic compounds. The theory of the method is discussed, with special reference to the quantitative displacement of the conducting species of the mobile phase from the column by the analyte on sample injection. The proposed method has been applied to study the chromatographic behaviour of twenty-one amino acids, where a 5 -μm Econosil CN column was used as the stationary phase with a mixture of water-acetonitrile-tetrahydrofuran (70:20:3) containing 1 mM perchloric acid or trichloroacetic acid as the mobile phase. The proposed method allows as little as 10 ng of each amino acid to be determined.     

Enantiomer separation of amino acids as their N-alkyloxycarbonyl alkylamide derivatives by chiral phase capillary GC

The enantiomers of amino acids were first converted into N-alkyloxycarbonyl 2,2,2-trifluoroethyl esters, and then into N-alkyloxycarbonyl alkylamides by nucleophilic substitution of the ester group with amines. The first reaction proceeds instantaneously, while the second substitution occurs smoothly with n-propylamine and isobutylamine. The final derivatives were produced for separation on a capillary column coated with Chirasil-Val by GC. Pro, which is difficult to separate completely as its N-perfluoroacyl alkyl ester derivative, showed complete separation of the enantiomeric pair. All amino acids examined in this study showed an increased separation factor.     

Direct determination of amino acids by pressurized capillary electrochromatography with chemiluminescence detection

A pressurized CEC (pCEC) coupled with on-column chemiluminescence (CL) detection was developed for direct determination of amino acids, which was based on the principle of an enhanced effect of Cu(II)-amino acid complexes on the CL reaction between luminol and hydrogen peroxide in alkaline solution. The effects of some important factors on pCEC separation and CL intensity were systemically investigated. Baseline separation of amino acids including L-histidine (L-His), L-threonine (L-Thr), and L-tyrosine (L-Tyr) was achieved by using a monolithic column with a mobile phase of 5.0x10(-3) mol/L phosphate buffer at pH 8.0 that contained 25% v/v methanol and 5.0x10(-4) mol/L luminol and 1.0x10(-5) mol/L Cu(II) at an applied voltage of -5 kV. The calibration curves of the analytes by plotting the peak height against corresponding concentration were linear over the range of 3.2x10(-6)-3.2x10(-4) mol/L for L-His, 4.1x10(-6)-4.1x10(-4) mol/L for L-Thr, and 6.0x10(-7)-3.0x10(-4) mol/L for L-Tyr. The LODs for L-His, L-Thr, and L-Tyr were 6.4x10(-7), 8.4x10(-7), and 3.0x10(-7) mol/L (S/N = 2), respectively. The proposed method was applied to the analysis of amino acid injection sample with satisfactory results. Mean recoveries for three amino acids were from 84.3 to 89.6%.     

Improved separation of amino acids by thin-layer chromatography

Summary The separation of 35 amino acids on Avicel F layers was investigated and 6 solvent systems are recommended for use either singly or in combination in 2-dimensional chromatography. The mechanisms and limitations of these methods are discussed.     

Production and utilization of amino acids.

The amino acid industry has been steadily expanding since monosodium glutamate was first marketed as a flavoring material in 1909. Its production has recently reached almost the 1 billion dollar level. Amino acids are produced by extraction from protein hydrolyzates, by fermentation with the aid of microorganisms, by enzymatic processes, and by chemical synthesis. To obtain natural L-amino acid, chemical synthesis generally requires two additional steps, i.e. optical resolution and racemization of the D isomer. The most important applications of amino acids include the fortification of plant food and feeds by supplementation of the deficient essential amino acid(s). Apart from their uses in the food industry, medical applications of amino acids (nutritional preparations and therapeutic agents) are becoming increasingly important.     

Stacking, derivatization, and separation by capillary electrophoresis of amino acids from cerebrospinal fluids

This paper describes the in-column derivatization, stacking, and separation of amino acids by CE in conjunction with light-emitting diode-induced fluorescence using naphthalene-2,3-dicarboxaldehyde (NDA). According to the relative electrophoretic mobilities and the migration direction in tetraborate solution (pH 9.3), the injection order is cyanide, then amino acids, then NDA. Once poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) migrates through the capillary under EOF, the amino acid.NDA derivatives, amino acids, and CN- ions migrating against the EOF enter the PEO zone. As a result of increases in viscosity and possible interactions with PEO molecules, the reagents/analytes slow down such that they become stacked at the boundary. In comparison with the off-column approach to the analysis of amino acids, our proposed method provides a lower degree of interference from polymeric NDA compounds and other side products. As a result, the plot of the peak height as a function of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) concentration is linear over the range from 10(-5) to 10(-8) M, with the LOD being 4 nM. We demonstrate the diagnostic potential of this approach for the determination of amino acids, including GABA and glutamine, in biological samples through the analysis of large volumes of cerebral spinal fluids without the need for sample pretreatment.     

Simultaneous separation of jasmonic acid conjugates with amino acids by MEKC

Jasmonic acid (JA) conjugates with amino acids (AAs) are a group of plant hormone in the family of jasmonates. The separation of stereoisomers of JA‐AA conjugates is a very challenging work since these stereoisomers have similar chromatographic and electrophoretic behavior. Simultaneous separation of ten (±)‐JA conjugates with five AAs including l‐ Tyr (tyrosine), l‐ leucine, l‐ Ile (isoleucine), l‐ valine, and l‐ phenylalanine and their stereoisomers has been achieved by MEKC with diode array detector in this work. Optimum separation of the analytes was obtained on a 61.5 cm × 75 μm id capillary using a running buffer containing 80 mM SDS and 50 mM phosphates (pH 7.0) at +18 kV applied voltage and capillary temperature of 35°C. Ten stereoisomers of JA conjugates with five AAs are completely separated in 13 min. The RSDs of the migration times and peak areas of the ten stereoisomers were in the range of 0.48–1.03% and 1.03–2.07%, respectively. In the tested concentration range, good linear relationships (correlation coefficients above 99%) between peak areas and concentrations of the analytes were observed. The proposed method has been successfully applied to the analysis of spiked rice floret sample and original reaction solution of (±)‐JA‐Ile conjugate and (±)‐JA‐Tyr conjugate. The recoveries ranged from 91.7 to 107.6% for the rice floret sample and 92.9 to 107.2% for the original reaction solution.     

Chiral separation of unmodified amino acids with non-aqueous capillary electrophoresis based on the ligand-exchange principle

A ligand exchange mechanism in non-aqueous capillary electrophoresis was employed for the separation of eight unmodified amino acids using chiral complexes of copper(II) with L-proline and L-isoleucine. The electrophoretic medium consisted of 25 mM ammonium acetate and 1 M acetic acid in methanol. We were able to completely separate the enantiomeric pairs of each of the investigated racemic amino acids. We also report the optimization of the separation parameters, such as pH*, composition of the complex, and concentration of the complexing agents.     

Chiral separation of halogenated amino acids by ligand-exchange capillary electrophoresis

The chiral separation of halogenated amino acids by ligand-exchange CE is described. Halogenated amino acids attracted increasing interest in recent years because of their physiological activities. Different chiral selectors, as there are L-4-hydroxyproline, L-histidine, and N-alkyl derivatives of L-4-hydroxyproline in form of their copper(II) complexes, are compared for their chiral recognition ability for halogenated amino acids. The influence of various parameters, such as selector concentration, pH, organic modifier, and field strength, on the resolution was investigated. All halogenated amino acids investigated were baseline-separated under optimized conditions.     

Efficient capillary electrophoresis separation and determination of free amino acids in beer samples

Simultaneous detection of various o‐phthalaldehyde (OPA)‐labeled amino acids (AAs) in food samples was reported based on CE separation. Ionic liquid was used for the first time for CE analysis of AAs with in‐capillary derivatization. Several other additives, including SDS, α/β‐CD, and ACN, as well as key parameters for CE separation (buffer pH value, separation voltage), were also investigated. Our results show that the multiple additive strategy exhibits good stable and repeatable character for CE analysis of OPA‐labeled AAs, for either in‐capillary derivatization or CE separation, and allows simultaneous quantification of different OPA‐labeled AAs in a large concentration range of 50 μM to 3.0 mM with LOD down to 10 μM. Seventeen OPA‐labeled AAs, except for two pairs of AAs (His/Gln and Phe/Leu), which were separated with resolutions of 1.1 and 1.2, respectively, were baseline separated and identified within 23 min using the present multiple additive strategy. The method was successfully applied for simultaneous analysis of AAs in seven beer samples and as many as eleven trace‐amount AAs were detected and quantified, indicating the valuable potential application of the present method for food analysis.     

Determination of amino acids in rat vitreous perfusates by capillary electrophoresis

In vivo determinations of amino acids are important for improving our understanding of physiological states of biological tissue function and dysfunction. However, the chemically complex matrix of different biological fluids complicates the assay of this important class of molecules. We introduce a method for characterizing the amino acid composition of submicroliter volumes of vitreous humor perfusates. Low-flow push-pull perfusion sampling is compatible with collecting small volume samples in a complicated matrix that are potentially difficult to separate. An efficient, sensitive, and rapid analysis of amino acids from in vivo perfusates of the vitreous is presented with 3-(4-carboxybenzoyl)-2-quinoline-carboxaldehyde (CBQCA) derivatitation and capillary electrophoresis (CE) separation with laser-induced fluorescence detection (LIF). Derivatization with CBQCA for up to 2 h provided high sensitivity and low detection limits at the nM level. Seventeen amino acids including D-serine (D-Ser) and D-aspartate (D-Asp) were resolved in less than 10 min. Importantly, D-Ser is separated from its enantiomeric pair. Characterization of vitreal amino acids with this assay technique will be useful for understanding ocular diseases and physiological mechanisms in vision.     

Capillary electrophoretic separation of dicarboxylic acids in atmospheric aerosol particles

2,3-Pyrazinedicarboxylic acid (PZDA), 2,6-pyridinedicarboxylic acid (PDA) and 2,3-pyridinedicarboxylic acid (QUIN) solutions were studied as background electrolytes (BGEs) in the capillary electrophoretic analysis of dicarboxylic acids in aerosol particles with indirect UV detection. The BGEs were selected on the basis of similarity in structure with the analytes so that mobilities would be compatible. Optimised pH values for PZDA, PDA and QUIN solutions were 10.6, 11.0 and 10.2, respectively. Myristyltrimethylammonium hydroxide and myristyltrimethylammonium bromide were added to reverse the electroosmotic flow in the solutions in the direction of anode to enable fast anion detection. Separation was obtained for nine dicarboxylic acids (C₂–C₁₀) differing in the number of CH₂ groups in their skeleton. The electrophoretic mobilities were determined to lie in the range 3.0×10⁻⁴–7.0×10⁻⁴ cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹. The relative standard deviations (RSDs) for the absolute migration times of the analytes were mostly less than 0.5% (n=6) in PZDA solution. In PDA solution the within-day and day-to-day RSD values for migration were less than 1% and between 2 and 4%, respectively. Peak heights and areas mostly deviated between 1 and 15% in both PZDA and PDA solutions. Detection limits ranged between 1 and 5 mg/l. Methods were applied to the analysis of dicarboxylic acids isolated from aerosol particles.     

Microchip capillary electrophoresis with electrochemical detector for fast measurements of aromatic amino acids

A method based on microchip capillary electrophoresis with amperometric detection was developed for the rapid separation and direct detection of oxidizable aromatic amino acids (without prior derivatization). The working electrode was a thick-film carbon strip electrode positioned opposite the outlet of the separation channel. Factors influencing the separation and detection processes were examined and optimized. The five aromatic amino acids, tyrosine, 5-hydroxytryptophan, tryptophan, p-aminobenzoic acid, and m-aminobenzoic acid, can be well separated within 5 min using a separation voltage of 2000 V and a 25 mM phosphate buffer (pH 7.0) run buffer containing 50 mM sodium dodecylsulfate. Most favorable amperometric detection was obtained at +0.95 V. Linear calibration plots are observed for micromolar concentrations of the oxidizable amino acids. The new protocol offers good stability and for reproducibility, with relative S.D. of less than 5% for both migration times and peak currents (n=8). It should be useful for the analysis of aromatic amino acids, as desired for life sciences.     

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.