Optimized ultrasound‐assisted extraction procedure for the analysis of opium alkaloids in papaver plants by cyclodextrin‐modified capillary electrophoresis

This study investigated the use of ultrasound‐assisted extraction to improve the extraction efficiency of morphine, codeine and thebaine from the papaver plants. Extraction conditions such as type of solvent, temperature, duration, frequency and power level of ultrasonic were optimized and the influences of different parameters on resolution of alkaloids in CE were studied. The optimized condition for CE separation includes a sodium phosphate buffer (100 mM, pH 3.0) containing 5 mM α‐CD. The optimized extraction conditions for ultrasound‐assisted extraction was an extraction time of 1 h, an ultrasonic frequency of 60 kHz with water–methanol (80:20) at 40°C as the extraction solvent. The LOD for alkaloids was found to be 0.1 μg/mL at a signal‐to‐noise ratio of 3:1. The RSDs for peak areas were in the range of 1.4–4.4%. The amounts of opium alkaloids (mg/100 g dried sample) in four Iranian papaver plants were found to be in the range of 7.8–8.7 (morphine), 5.5–9.5 (codeine) and 1.4–10.4 (thebaine). It should be emphasized that no cleanup of the filtered extract was required; hence, direct determination after extraction drastically simplifies the analytical process.     

Surfactant Effect on Kinetic of Reaction of Some Sulphonamides with p‐Dimethylaminobenzaldehyde: Surfactant‐Modified Determination of Sulphonamides in Aqueous Solution

Kinetics of condensation reactions of six sulpha drugs (I‐VI) with p‐dimethylaminobenzaldehyde (DAB) in a weakly acidic EthOH/H₂O solution have been studied spectrophotometrically. The reaction was found to be first order with respect to DAB and zero order with respect to sulphonamide. The rate constants, activation energies, and other related thermodynamic functions have been determined. The effect of the presence of anionic surfactant sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) on the kinetics of this reaction in aqueous solution has been investigated. The observed rate constants increase with increasing the amount of SDS except for those of sodium sulphacetamide (VI). The surfactant molecules enhance the reaction rates (14–113 times) in concentrations less than critical micellar concentration (cmc). A developed spectrophotometric method for determining sulphonamides in aqueous solution by their reactions with an excess of DAB in the presence of SDS and HCl (pH = 2) at a wavelength of 447 nm has been introduced. Microgram amounts of sulphonamides can be estimated with accuracy better than ± 1.5% and reproducibility less than ± 0.064%. The results of application to sulphonamides in pure form indicate that the presented method is simple, sensitive, precise, accurate, and comparable to the colorimetric Bratton‐Marshall standard procedure. The effect of interferences and application of the presented method to two pharmaceutical preparations have been investigated.     

Activity of α‐Chymotrypsin in Cationic and Nonionic Micellar Media: Ultraviolet and Fluorescence Spectroscopic Approach

α‐Chymotrypsin (α‐CT) activity was measured in aqueous buffer with the following alkyltriphenylphosphonium bromide surfactants in the series cetyl, tetradecyl, and dodecyl as a tail length. For the sake of comparison with mixed micellar investigation on activity of α‐CT, cationic cetyltriphenylphosphonium bromide (CTPB) and nonionic surfactant Triton X‐100, Brij‐56, Brij‐35, Tween 20, and Igepal Co‐210 have been used. The p‐nitrophenyl acetate (PNPA) hydrolysis rate was determined at the surfactant concentration of both cationic and mixed micellar systems by a UV–vis spectrophotometer. The catalytic reaction follows the Michaelis–Menten mechanism, and the catalytic efficiency (k_cat/K_M) was evaluated for both homogeneous and mixed‐micellar media. The maximum catalytic efficiency was observed at 5 mM concentration of CTPB, but the highest catalytic efficiency, 572 M^?1 s^?1, was measured in the presence of mixed micellar (7.5 mM CTPB + 2.5 mM Tween‐20). The fluorescence (FL) spectra showed the differences of α‐CT conformations in the presence of cationic surfactants. The FL results suggest that the influence of cationic surfactant on proteolysis arises from the interaction with the α‐CT. The binding constant, k_sv, of α‐CT with cationic aggregates was determined in the buffer using the Stern–Volmer equation by the fluorescence spectroscopic approach.     

Assay and stability‐indicating micellar electrokinetic chromatography method for the simultaneous determination of valacyclovir,acyclovir and their major impurity guanine in pharmaceutical formulations

A micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC) method for the simultaneous determination of the antiviral drugs acyclovir and valacyclovir and their major impurity, guanine, was developed. The influences of several factors (surfactant and buffer concentration, pH, applied voltage, capillary temperature and injection time) were studied. Using tyramine hydrochloride as internal standard, the analytes were all separated in about 4 min. The separation was carried out in reversed polarity mode at 28°C, 25 kV and using hydrodynamic injection (15 s). The separation was effected in a fused‐silica capillary 100 μm × 56 cm and a background electrolyte of 20 mM citric acid–1 M Tris solution (pH 2.75), containing 125 mM sodium dodecyl sulphate and detection at 254 nm. The method was validated with respect to linearity, limit of detection and quantification, accuracy, precision and selectivity. Calibration curves were linear over the range 0.1–1 μg/mL (guanine) and from 0.1 to 120 μg/mL for both valacyclovir and acyclovir. The relative standard deviations of intra‐ and inter‐day migration times and corrected peak areas were less than 5.0%. The proposed method was successfully applied to the determination of the analytes in tablets and creams. From the previous study it is concluded that the stability‐indicating method developed for acyclovir and valacyclovir can be used for analysis of the drug in various stability samples. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Determination of ephedrine and codeine in human urine by cation-selective exhaustive injection and sweeping micellar electrokinetic chromatography

A sensitive method for the determination of ephedrine and codeine in human urine by capillary electrophoresis(CE)was described.In order to improve the sensitivity,two online concentration techniques including cation-selective exhaustive injection (CSEI)and sweeping micellar electrokinetic chromatography(sweeping-MEKC)were used.Under the optimum conditions,the detection limits(S/N=3)were 0.10μg/L for ephedrine and 0.80μg/L for codeine.This method was successfully applied to real urine sample analysis.     

Differentiation of opium and poppy straw using capillary electrophoresis and pattern recognition techniques

Opium samples from four different locations and poppy straw from different plant varieties have been assayed using micellar capillary electrophoresis incorporating a sweeping technique. Individual alkaloids (morphine, codeine, papaverine, noscapine, thebaine, oripavine, reticuline and narceine) were quantitatively determined in the different samples by a validated capillary electrophoresis method. Unsupervised pattern recognition of the opium samples and the poppy straw samples using hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) and principal component analysis (PCA), showed distinct clusters. Supervised pattern recognition using soft independent modelling of class analogy (SIMCA) was performed to show individual groupings and allow unknown samples to be classified according to the models built using the CZE assay results.     

Low‐density solvent‐based vortex‐assisted surfactant‐enhanced emulsification liquid–liquid microextraction and its application

For the first time, the low‐density solvent‐based vortex‐assisted surfactant‐enhanced emulsification liquid–liquid microextraction, followed by GC‐flame photometric detection has been developed for the determination of eight organophosphorus pesticides in aqueous samples. A small volume of organic extraction solvent (toluene) was dispersed into the aqueous samples by the assistance of surfactant and vortex agitator. The extraction was performed in a special disposable polyethylene pipette, allowing using the reagents with lower density than water as extraction solvents. The influence parameters were systemically investigated and optimized: toluene (30 μL) and Triton X‐100 (0.2 mmol/L) were used as the extraction solvent and the surfactant, respectively, and the extraction was performed for 1 min under room temperature without adding sodium chloride. Under the optimum conditions, the validation parameters such as the RSD (n = 6; 2.1–11.3%), LOD (0.005 and 0.05 μg/L), and linear range (0.1–50.0 μg/L with correlation coefficients (0.9958–0.9992) showed the method was satisfying. The proposed method has been successfully applied to the determination of the organophosphorus pesticides in real samples with recoveries between 82.8 and 100.2%.     

Developing a miniaturized setup for in‐tube simultaneous determination of three alkaloids using electromembrane extraction in combination with ultraviolet spectrophotometry

Herein, electromembrane extraction was combined with ultraviolet spectrophotometry using a customized manifold for preconcentration and simultaneous determination of morphine, codeine, and papaverine in water and human urine samples. Absorption spectra of the extracts were recorded inside the lumen of the hollow fiber using two fiber optics connected to a miniature spectrophotometer. Partial least squares regression was applied to resolve the overlapped spectra of the analytes. Performance of the model was validated by an independent test set. Central composite design was applied to optimize the extraction parameters. The optimized extraction conditions are as follows; supporting liquid membrane: 2‐nitrophenyl octyl ether containing 15% v/v bis(2‐ethylhexyl) phosphate, applied voltage: 80 V, donor pH: 3.0, acceptor pH: 1.0, extraction time: 20 min. Finally, the optimized extraction method was validated for determination of the mentioned alkaloids in human urine samples. The method showed good linearity (R² > 0.995) for all of the mentioned alkaloids. The limits of detection for morphine, codeine, and papaverine in diluted human urine were found to be 0.6, 1.1, and 0.6 ng/mL, respectively with acceptable relative standard deviations. Enrichment factors of 104, 108, and 102 were achieved for morphine, codeine, and papaverine, respectively.     

A dispersive liquid–liquid micellar microextraction for the determination of pharmaceutical compounds in wastewaters using ultra‐high‐performace liquid chromatography with DAD detection

A dispersive liquid–liquid micellar microextraction (DLLMME) method coupled with ultra‐high‐performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) using Diode Array Detector (DAD) detector was developed for the analysis of five pharmaceutical compounds of different nature in wastewaters. A micellar solution of a surfactant, polidocanol, as extraction solvent (100 μL) and chloroform as dispersive solvent (200 μL) were used to extract and preconcentrate the target analytes. Samples were heated above critical temperature and the cloudy solution was centrifuged. After removing the chloroform, the reduced volume of surfactant was then injected in the UHPLC system. In order to obtain high extraction efficiency, the parameters affecting the liquid‐phase microextraction, such as time and temperature extraction, ionic strength and surfactant and organic solvent volume, were optimized using an experimental design. Under the optimized conditions, this procedure allows enrichment factors of up to 47‐fold. The detection limit of the method ranged from 0.1 to 2.0 µg/L for the different pharmaceuticals. Relative standard deviations were <26% for all compounds. The procedure was applied to samples from final effluent collected from wastewater treatment plants in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Spain), and two compounds were measured at 67 and 113 µg/L in one of them. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Separation and determination of five major opium alkaloids with mixed mode of hydrophilic/cation-exchange monolith by pressurized capillary electrochromatography

A method for the separation and determination of five major opium alkaloids (narcotine, papaverine, thebaine, codeine, and morphine) in pericarpium papaveris by pressurized CEC (pCEC) with monolithic column has been developed. Under the optimum condition, linear calibration ranges of narcotine, papaverine, thebaine, codeine, and morphine were obtained as 2-85, 2-85, 5-75, 10-65, and 10-65 microg/mL, respectively. LODs of these analytes were 1.5-6.0 microg/mL. The RSD (n=7) of the migration time and peak area were 1.94-5.24 and 4.05-8.21%, respectively. The proposed method was successfully applied to the analysis of pericarpium papaveris samples. Average recoveries of 79.0-95.9% at different fortified levels of alkaloids were achieved with RSD less than 4.6%. Meanwhile, the mechanism of the separation of the alkaloids on the monolithic column was also discussed. The result showed that the separation of alkaloids was mainly based on the mixed mode of hydrophilic interaction (HI) and cation exchange.     

Spectrofluorimetric and Spectrophotometric Determination of Oxamniquine in Pharmaceuticals and Biological Fluids via Derivatization with 4‐Chloro‐7‐Nitrobenzo‐2‐oxa‐1,3‐Diazole (NBD‐Cl)

Spectrophotometric and spectrofluorimetric methods were developed for the determination of oxamniquine (OXM). Both methods are based on coupling with 4‐chloro‐7‐nitrobenzo‐2‐oxa‐1,3‐diazole (NBD‐Cl) in borate buffer of pH 7.6, and the reaction product was measured at 400 nm (Method I). The same product was measured by spectrofluorimetry at 480 nm upon excitation at 400 nm (Method II). The absorbance and the fluorescence intensity were enhanced by addition of sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS). The absorbance‐concentration plot is rectilinear over the range of 5–25 μg/mL with an LOD of 0.31 μg/mL. The fluorescence‐concentration plot is linear over the range of 0.2–1.2 μg/mL with an LOD of 0.03 μg/mL. Both methods were applied to the analysis of capsules, and the results were in good agreement with those obtained using the official method. The method was applied to spiked human plasma; the mean % recovery (n = 5) is 101.05 ± 1.65. A proposal of the reaction pathway is presented.     

Highly Sensitive Voltammetric Speciation and Determination of Inorganic Arsenic in Water and Alloy Samples Using Ammonium 2‐Amino‐1‐Cyclopentene‐1‐Dithiocarboxylate

A simple, fast, reproducible (2.5% RSD at 3.0 μg/L), and sensitive method is described for quantifying As(III) (0.3 μg/L detection limit, 0.5–440 μg/L dynamic range). Anodic stripping voltammetry (ASV) is performed after accumulating arsenic at a mercury film electrode at ?0.350 V vs. Ag/AgCl (saturated KCl) for 20 s in 0.2 M HCl containing 8 μM ammonium 2‐amino‐1‐cyclopentene‐1‐dithiocarboxylate (AACD), without oxygen removal. This is the first report of using AACD in ASV and in electrochemical quantification of As(III). Total arsenic is determined after sodium‐sulfite‐reduction of As(V) to As(III). Interferences are minimal. Method validation involved water and metal alloy samples.     

Surfactant‐assisted dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction of nitrazepam and lorazepam from plasma and urine samples followed by high‐performance liquid chromatography with UV analysis

Surfactant‐assisted liquid–liquid microextraction followed by high‐performance liquid chromatography with UV detection has been developed for the simultaneous preconcentration and determination of lorazepam and nitrazepam in biological fluids. In this study, an ionic surfactant (cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide) was used as an emulsifier. The predominant parameters affecting extraction efficiency such as the type and volume of extraction solvent, the type and concentration of surfactant, sample pH, and the concentration of salt added to the sample were investigated and opted. Under the optimum conditions (extraction solvent and its volume, 1‐octanol, 70 μL; surfactant and its concentration, 1 mL of ultra‐pure water containing 2 mmol L^?1 cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide; sample pH = 9 and salt content of 10% NaCl w/v), the preconcentration factors were obtained in the range of 202–241 and 246–265 for nitrazepam and lorazepam, respectively. The limits of quantification for both drugs were 5 μg L^?1 in water sample and 10 μg L^?1 in biological fluids with R² values higher than 0.993. The suitability of the proposed method was successfully confirmed by the extraction and determination of the target drugs in human urine and plasma samples in the range of microgram per liter.     

Kinetics of the reaction of methyl 4‐nitrobenzenesul‐fonate + Br− in ethanol amine based surfactants

The kinetics of the reaction of methyl 4‐nitrobenzenesulfonate + Br^? ions has been studied in ethanol amine based (alkyldimethylethanolammonium bromide and alkyldiethylethanolammonium bromide) surfactant solutions. The observed first‐order rate constants increase monotonically with surfactant concentration, with hydrophobic chain length and with head group bulk in a manner similar to other quaternary ammonium surfactants. The results were analyzed using the pseudophase model of micellar rate effects in conjunction with a Langmuir form to describe micellar binding of bromide ion. An attempt to estimate activation parameters of the reaction from temperature variance of micellar pseudophase rate constants has also been made. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Chem Kinet 38: 303–308, 2006     

同位素内标-多反应监测同步在线质谱全扫描确证火锅料中罂粟壳成分

建立了高效液相色谱-三重四极杆线性离子阱质谱测定火锅料中吗啡、可待因、蒂巴因、罂粟碱、那可丁等5种生物碱残留的确证方法。样品采用稀盐酸加热提取,正己烷除脂,阳离子混合机理固相萃取柱净化,5%氨化乙酸乙酯-甲醇洗脱,PAK ST色谱柱分离,5 mmol/L乙酸铵甲醇溶液-10 mmol/L乙酸铵水溶液(pH 3.6)作为流动相洗脱,电喷雾正离子模式下多反应监测同步增强子离子在线全扫描(EPI)。在该实验条件下,5种生物碱的LOD在0.05~0.5 μg/kg之间,增强型子离子全扫描水平限和LOQ在0.2~2 μg/kg之间,方法回收率为64.2%~110.6%, RSD为4.2%~12.5%。阳性样品的定性确证需采用其子离子全扫描质谱图与标准图库中子离子质谱图检索匹配。经测定多种火锅料,表明本方法操作简单、测定结果准确,可用于火锅料中5种生物碱残留的阳性结果确证分析。     

Study of the reaction of methyl 4‐nitrobenzenesulfonate and Br− in water–glycerol cationic micellar solutions

The reaction of methyl 4‐nitrobenzenesulfonate (MNB) and Br^? has been studied in water–glycerol (GLY) alkyltrimethylammonium bromide micellar solutions, with the weight percentage of glycerol up to 50%. A pseudophase kinetic model was used for quantitatively discussing the kinetic data. Results showed that the equilibrium‐binding constant for the organic substrate molecules to the cationic micelles decreases upon increasing the amount of glycerol present in the micellar reaction media. The second‐order rate constant of the reaction in the micellar pseudophase is practically independent of wt% of GLY. Similar results were found in other water–organic solvent alkyltrimethylammonium bromide micellar solutions for the same process. However, the dependence of the reaction rate, for a given surfactant concentration, on the wt% of organic solvent is weaker for glycerol than for the other organic solvents. This was explained by considering that the cationic micellar ionization degree is nearly independent of wt% GLY. As a consequence, bromide ions concentration in the interfacial region (the reaction site) does not change by varying wt% of GLY. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Chem Kinet 40: 845–582, 2008     

Ion‐pair cloud‐point extraction: A new method for the determination of water‐soluble vitamins in plasma and urine

A novel, simple, and effective ion‐pair cloud‐point extraction coupled with a gradient high‐performance liquid chromatography method was developed for determination of thiamine (vitamin B₁), niacinamide (vitamin B₃), pyridoxine (vitamin B₆), and riboflavin (vitamin B₂) in plasma and urine samples. The extraction and separation of vitamins were achieved based on an ion‐pair formation approach between these ionizable analytes and 1‐heptanesulfonic acid sodium salt as an ion‐pairing agent. Influential variables on the ion‐pair cloud‐point extraction efficiency, such as the ion‐pairing agent concentration, ionic strength, pH, volume of Triton X‐100, extraction temperature, and incubation time have been fully evaluated and optimized. Water‐soluble vitamins were successfully extracted by 1‐heptanesulfonic acid sodium salt (0.2% w/v) as ion‐pairing agent with Triton X‐100 (4% w/v) as surfactant phase at 50°C for 10 min. The calibration curves showed good linearity (r² > 0.9916) and precision in the concentration ranges of 1‐50 μg/mL for thiamine and niacinamide, 5–100 μg/mL for pyridoxine, and 0.5–20 μg/mL for riboflavin. The recoveries were in the range of 78.0–88.0% with relative standard deviations ranging from 6.2 to 8.2%.     

Application of capillary zone electrophoresis in the separation and determination of the principal gum opium alkaloids

We describe the use of capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) for the qualitative and quantitative determination of major alkaloids (i.e., thebaine, codeine, morphine, papavarine and narcotine) in gum opium involving the analysis of alkaloids without derivatization or purification. Three extractions with 2.5% w/v aqueous acetic acid quantitatively extracted major alkaloids. The separation was carried out by CZE using a 7:3 mixture of methanol and sodium acetate (100 mM, pH 3.1) at a potential of 15 kV, with UV detection at 224 nm. Spiking of pure reference alkaloid standards in the opium extract was used for peak identification. The influences of buffer composition, pH and voltage on the separation of alkaloids were studied. The detection limit of each alkaloid dissolved in methanol was found to be 850 ng/mL (morphine), 450 ng/mL (thebaine), 500 ng/mL (codeine), 550 ng/mL (papaverine), and 500 ng/mL (narcotine) at an injection pressure of 300 mbar (injection volume, 4 nL) with a signal-to-noise ratio of 3:1. The external standard method was used for the quantification of alkaloids. The calibration plot was based on linear regression analysis. The relative standard deviation (RSD) for peak area and migration time was in the range of 1.03-3.56% and 0.34-0.69%, respectively. Percentage compositions (g%) of opium alkaloids in five gum opium samples were found to be in the range of 14.45-15.95 (morphine), 2.0-3.45 (codeine), 1.32-2.73 (thebaine), 0.92-2.37 (papavarine), and 3.85-5.77 (narcotine). The method developed is suitable for the routine analysis of major gum opium alkaloids in samples of forensic importance.     

热解吸-电喷雾离子源-三重四极杆质谱法快速筛查火锅底料和肉汤中非法添加罂粟壳

通过简单的金属探针直接接触火锅底料和肉汤表面采集待测物,经热解吸离子源进一步热解吸和电喷雾离子化,最终进入三重四极杆质谱检测器在多反应监测模式下进行定性分析,实现了火锅底料和肉汤中罂粟壳的现场实时快速检测。结果表明,设置热解吸温度为260℃,以0.1%甲酸水溶液（含10 mmol/L甲酸铵-乙腈（1:1,v/v）作为注射溶剂、注射泵流速为200 μL/h时,仪器响应值最优,灵敏度最高;5种生物碱中罂粟碱、那可丁、蒂巴因在火锅底料和肉汤中的检出限均为2 μg/kg,可待因、吗啡在火锅底料中的检出限为10 μg/kg,在肉汤中的检出限为5 μg/kg。该法与罂粟壳胶体金卡片快检试剂盒相比,灵敏度具有明显优势。应用该法对50批次市售火锅底料、肉汤等样品进行检测,发现1批次鸡汤含有那可丁、罂粟碱、蒂巴因和吗啡4种生物碱,与高效液相色谱-三重四极杆质谱法的检测结果一致。由此说明该方法具有无需样品制备和色谱分离的特点,是一种快速、绿色、环保的分析方法,能够满足对食品中罂粟壳的快速定性分析。     

Characterization of cephalosporin transfer between aqueous and colloidal phases by micellar electrokinetic chromatography

A new electrokinetic chromatographic method was applied to the determination of the partition coefficient between water and micelle for a group of cephalosporins (cefmetazol, cephradin, cefaclor, ceftazidim, cefodizim, cephapirin, cephalothin and ceftriaxon) using sodium dodecyl sulphate as an anionic surfactant in microemulsion and in micellar systems. In the new method, the running buffer contains both the micelles and the drug, and the injected solution contains the same concentration of micelles as the running buffer but not the drug. The mobility of the drug can be measured from a negative peak recorded the chromatogram. The required parameters for the determination of the capacity factor (mu(aq) and /mu(me) are the electrophoretic mobilities of the solutes in the aqueous and the micelle phases, mu(eff) is the effective mobility in the micellar system or in the microemulsion) were measured by the new micellar and microemulsion electrokinetic chromatography technique. Linear log-log relationships were found between both the micelle-water partition coefficient and the capacity factor and the n-octanol-water partition coefficient.