Evaluation of capillary liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization ion mobility spectrometry with mass spectrometry detection

Due to the proteomics revolution, multi-dimensional separation and detection instruments are required to evaluate many peptides and proteins in single samples. In this study, electrospray ionization (ESI) ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) was evaluated as an additional separation after HPLC separations. Common HPLC mobile phase compositions (solvents, acid modifiers, and buffers) were assessed for the effect on ESI-IMS response. Up to 5 mM sodium phosphate, a non-volatile buffer, was able to be electrosprayed into the IMS without degradation of the instrumental performance. Due to the rapid separation times of IMS, multiple IMS spectra were obtained within a single HPLC peak. A five-peptide mixture was separated in a capillary HPLC column under isocratic conditions within 3 min. Coelution of two peaks due to non-optimal HPLC conditions occurred and these two peaks could not be distinguished by HPLC with UV detection. In contrast, the single ion mobility chromatograms provided separation of each peptide as well as providing a second degree of analyte identification (HPLC retention time and IMS mobility). Furthermore, IMS-MS analysis of the five peptides and comparison with HPLC retention times showed that each peptide had a unique retention time-ion mobility-mass to charge value. This work showed that IMS could be employed for direct separation and detection of HPLC eluents and also could be combined with HPLC-MS for three unique dimensions of separation.     

Optimization of a stability-indicating HPLC method for the simultaneous determination of rifampicin, isoniazid, and pyrazinamide in a fixed-dose combination using artificial neural networks

The aim of this study is to develop and optimize a simple and reliable high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method for the simultaneous determination of rifampicin (RIF), isoniazid (INH), and pyrazinamide (PZA) in a fixed-dose combination. The method is developed and optimized using an artificial neural network (ANN) for data modeling. Retention times under different experimental conditions (solvent, buffer type, and pH) and using four different column types (referred to as the input and testing data) are used to train, validate, and test the ANN model. The developed model is then used to maximize HPLC performance by optimizing separation. The sensitivity of the separation (retention time) to the changes in column type, concentration, and type of solvent and buffer in the mobile phase are investigated. Acetonitrile (ACN) as a solvent and tetrabutylammonium hydroxide (tBAH), used to adjust pH, have the greatest influence on the chromatographic separation of PZA and INH and are used for the final optimization. The best separation and reasonably short retention times are produced on the micro-bondapak C18, 4.6 x 250-mm column, 10 microm/125 A using ACN-tBAH (42.5:57.5, v/v) (0.0002M) as the mobile phase, and optimized at a final pH of 3.10.     

Superheated water as eluent in high-temperature high-performance liquid chromatographic separations of steroids on a polymer-coated zirconia column

High-temperature liquid chromatography (HTLC), with a superheated water mobile phase, has been shown to be a feasible replacement for medium-polarity acetonitrile-water mixtures as an eluent in reversed-phase HPLC. Instrumental parameters of flow-rate, injection volume and mobile phase preheating were shown to have significant effects on the quality of the chromatographic peaks. The selectivity and retention patterns of testosterone and several related compounds were investigated on a porous zirconia, polybutadiene-coated column at temperatures up to 200 degrees C and compared with that of a porous silica, octadecylsilane-coated column and the zirconia column under traditional reversed-phase conditions of an acetonitrile-water mobile phase at 40 degrees C. The selectivity differences observed for testosterone and related compounds show that the separation mechanisms are complementary and unique selectivity is obtained with the zirconia column under HTLC conditions.     

Computer-assisted method development and optimization in high-performance liquid chromatography

This paper reports the use of DryLab, a computer simulation software package, to assist in the development and optimization of a reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method for the separation of a model drug candidate and its degradation products. Prior to the optimization process, columns with various bonded phases are evaluated for their chromatographic performance using the sample of interest. Simultaneous optimization of two separation variables and the use of resolution maps to predict the optimal conditions are illustrated. Options to optimize column conditions (column length and flow-rate) to further reduce run time are briefly discussed. The accuracy of DryLab-predicted retention times and resolution is compared with experimental values. The DryLab software used in this study provided satisfactory predictions for the selected model, with average errors of less than 3.5 and 11.8% for retention time and resolution, respectively.     

Efficiency of separating amine 5,7-dinitrobenzofurazane derivatives

The influence of eluent nature and polarity, water concentration in an aqueous-organic mixture, and its pH on the retention of 5,7-dinitrobenzofurazane derivatives of a number of aromatic amines under the conditions of RP HPLC is revealed. A procedure is developed for the separation of a mixture of six aromatic amines on a column ZORBAX SB-C18.     

Chromatographic behaviour of selected steroids and their inclusion complexes with beta-cyclodextrin on octadecylsilica stationary phases with different carbon loads

Retention and separation studies of selected estrogens, progestogens and their inclusion complexes with beta-cyclodextrin were conducted using two C18 HPLC columns with different carbon loads. The difference in carbon load between investigated octadecylsilica packing materials was about 50%. The mobile phases were composed of a 30% v/v acetonitrile-water mixture without and with addition of beta-cyclodextrin at a concentration of 12 mM. The experimental data revealed that retention of the steroids was significantly reduced on the column with the lower carbon load. Moreover, it was found that this column offers better separation power and shorter analysis time at the temperatures studied. However, the calculated values of the retention factor ratios (k0(mMCD))/k(12mMCD)) of the steroids were similar for both columns investigated. This observation suggests that the stationary phase structure appears to have little effect on the formation of host-guest complexes if the complexation process is localised to the chromatographic mobile phase. From a practical point of view, when the mobile phase is modified with beta-cyclodextrin, the separation of the steroids is strongly influenced by temperature. The best chromatographic conditions were determined for the separation of multicomponent samples on the column with lower carbon load. A possible retention mechanism for components of interest in the presence of macrocyclic additives is discussed.     

Numerical modeling of elution peak profiles in supercritical fluid chromatography. Part I—Elution of an unretained tracer

When chromatography is carried out with high-density carbon dioxide as the main component of the mobile phase (a method generally known as “supercritical fluid chromatography” or SFC), the required pressure gradient along the column is moderate. However, this mobile phase is highly compressible and, under certain experimental conditions, its density may decrease significantly along the column. Such an expansion absorbs heat, cooling the column, which absorbs heat from the outside. The resulting heat transfer causes the formation of axial and radial gradients of temperature that may become large under certain conditions. Due to these gradients, the mobile phase velocity and most physico-chemical parameters of the system (viscosity, diffusion coefficients, etc.) are no longer constant throughout the column, resulting in a loss of column efficiency, even at low flow rates. At high flow rates and in serious cases, systematic variations of the retention factors and the separation factors with increasing flow rates and important deformations of the elution profiles of all sample components may occur. The model previously used to account satisfactorily for the effects of the viscous friction heating of the mobile phase in HPLC is adapted here to account for the expansion cooling of the mobile phase in SFC and is applied to the modeling of the elution peak profiles of an unretained compound in SFC. The numerical solution of the combined heat and mass balance equations provides temperature and pressure profiles inside the column, and values of the retention time and efficiency for elution of this unretained compound that are in excellent agreement with independent experimental data.     

Separation of small peptides by electrochromatography on silica-based reversed phases and hydrophobic anion exchange phases

Peptide separations are regarded as a promising application of capillary electrochromatography (CEC) and, at the same time, a suitable model to elucidate its mixed separation mechanism when charged analytes are involved. In this paper, studies on the separation of small peptides (2-4 amino acids) on a Spherisorb octadecyl silane (ODS) phase at acidic pH and on a strong anion exchange (SAX)/C18 mixed mode phase at weakly basic pH are reported. For the ODS phase a comparison of CEC, capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) under identical buffer/eluent conditions is presented. The predicted retention factors for CEC under the assumption of simple superposition of HPLC retention and CZE migration matched the measured results for the peptides that had small retention factors in HPLC. For both types of stationary phases, a variation of the acetonitrile content in the mobile phase led to a wide range of retention factors, including negative values when co-electroosmotic migration was dominant. Though both the ODS and the SAX/C18 phase offer unique advantages, the SCX/C18 phase at pH 9 provides more flexibility to alter separation selectivity for the selected peptides.     

Zirconia-based column high-performance liquid chromatography/atmospheric pressure photoionization tandem mass spectrometric analyses of drug molecules in rat plasma

A method using zirconia-based column high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) interfaced with an atmospheric pressure photoionization (APPI) source and a tandem mass spectrometer (MS/MS) was developed for the quantitative determination of new chemical entities in rat plasma in support of pharmacokinetics studies. The ionization suppression resulting from endogenous components of the biological matrices on the quantitative zirconia-based column HPLC/APPI-MS/MS method was investigated using the post-column infusion technique. The analytical results for 'rapid rat pharmacokinetics' for 12 drug discovery compounds, obtained by both silica-based phase (S-phase) and zirconia-based phase (Z-phase) chromatographic separation, are in good agreement in terms of accuracy. The application of a Z-phase column for high-temperature fast HPLC/MS/MS methods was explored to reduce the analysis time from 3 min to 30 s for column temperatures of 25-110 degrees C, respectively. The chromatographic retention times and peak responses of all analytes were found to be reproducible under high-temperature conditions following 100 continuous injections, with %CV less than 0.4 and 5, respectively.     

Carrier gas as a new factor influencing the selectivity of the gas-stationary liquid phase chromatographic system

This paper generalizes studies on the influence of carrier gas on relative and absolute retention values. This line of research is also of importance due to the fact that, in the opinion of many chromatographers, the role of the carrier gas is limited only to transporting analyzed compounds along the column. However, even under conditions of the conventional capillary gas-liquid chromatography (i.e. at column pressures under 5 atm) carrier gas (its nature and pressure) significantly influences retention and separation of the analyzed compounds. First, carrier gas (N2 and CO2, for example) dramatically affects relative retention values. For this reason, one should use limit values of alpha(ij) (0) = lim alpha(ij)(P(av)) and I(i)(0) = lim Ii(Pav) I(0) = limI(i) (Pav) with Pav-->0 as chromatographic constants, rather than traditional relative retention values alpha(ij)(P(av)) and I(i)(P(av)). Second, the average pressure Pav of the carrier gas in a column and the nature of the carrier gas influence the selectivity of the gas-stationary liquid phase chromatographic system. Third, wishing to maximize the role of the carrier gas as a factor that improves separation of analyzed compounds, we should design a special gas chromatograph that would allow work with pressures in the column up to 30-50 atm.     

The Effect of Column and Eluent Fluorination on the Retention and Separation of non-Fluorinated Amino Acids and Proteins by HPLC

The effect of column and eluent fluorination on the retention and separation of non-fluorinated amino acids and proteins in HPLC is investigated. A side-by-side comparison of fluorocarbon column and eluents (F-column and F-eluents) with their hydrocarbon counterparts (H-column and H-eluents) in the separation of a group of 33 analytes, including 30 amino acids and 3 proteins, is conducted. The H-column and the F-column contain the n-C₈H₁₇ group and n-C₈F₁₇ group, respectively, in their stationary phases. The H-eluents include ethanol (EtOH) and isopropanol (ISP) while the F-eluents include trifluoroethanol (TFE) and hexafluorosopropanol (HFIP). The 2 columns and 4 eluents generated 8 (column, eluent) pairs that produce 264 retention time data points for the 33 analytes. A statistical analysis of the retention time data reveals that although the H-column is better than the F-column in analyte separation and H-eluents are better than F-eluents in analyte retention, the more critical factor is the proper pairing of column with eluent. Among the conditions explored in this project, optimal retention and separation is achieved when the fluorocarbon column is paired with ethanol, even though TFE is the most polar one among the 4 eluents. This result shows fluorocarbon columns have much potential in chromatographic analysis and separation of non-fluorinated amino acids and proteins.     

在线高效液相色谱-毛细管气相色谱联用方法的建立

建立了一种以保留间隙柱技术和阀切换以及定量管样品转移为接口并具有早期溶剂蒸气出口的在线液相色谱与毛细管气相色谱联用方法。考察了主要实验条件,如溶剂蒸发温度、载气压力等对联机系统性能的影响,并用萘和联苯对该系统的线性范围进行了测定。利用联机系统对一种轻柴油样品进行了分析。     

溴化1-乙烯基-3-十二烷基咪唑硅胶键合固定相制备及其色谱性能

膜脂作为细胞质膜的主要组成部分,在生命活动中扮演着重要的作用,其涉及多种重要疾病的发生和发展过程。发展适用于膜脂分离分析的新型色谱材料对于其后续结构和生物学功能研究具有重要的意义。该文选用具有潜在生物相容性的离子液体溴化1-乙烯基-3-十二烷基咪唑（1-vinyl-3-dodecylimidazole bromide,VDI）为功能单体,通过一步法点击反应将其接枝到巯基功能化硅球表面,制备得到了新型溴化1-乙烯基-3-十二烷基咪唑硅胶键合固定相（Sil-VDI）。利用傅里叶变换红外光谱仪和热重分析仪对Sil-VDI固定相材料的结构进行表征,结果证明Sil-VDI色谱固定相已被成功制备。保留机制研究显示填充Sil-VDI色谱柱具有典型的反相/离子交换混合模式保留特性。基于此,采用不同疏水性物质烷基苯、多环芳烃、苯胺、苯衍生物和无机阴离子BrO₃ ^- 、NO₃ ^- 和IO₃ ^- 为测试物,对所制备固定相的色谱性能进行了研究。结果表明,该固定相对4类疏水性物质和无机阴离子均有较好的分离选择性和良好的峰对称性。进一步研究了所制备的Sil-VDI色谱柱对鸡蛋黄磷脂和肺腺癌细胞提取膜脂的分离效果,结果显示Sil-VDI色谱柱对2种磷脂样品均显示出了良好的分离能力。该文所制备的Sil-VDI色谱固定相合成方法简便,具有良好的分离分析应用潜能,后续工作会进一步研究该固定相在生物样品中的分离分析性能。     

反相高效液相三元流动相台阶梯度分离条件的快速优化方法

 根据溶质在柱内的迁移规律 ,建立了一种利用线性梯度实验快速获得溶质保留值方程系数 ,然后以串行响应函数为优化指标进行多台阶梯度分离条件优化的方法。与利用等度实验获得保留值方程的方法相比 ,该法可以大大缩短优化时间。通过该方法对芳香胺和衍生化氨基酸样品进行了分离 ,获得了满意的分离度 ,表明该方法的预测精度很好。     

一种提高色谱指纹谱保留时间重现性的新方法

通过色谱热力学分析发现，在相同的分析条件下，即使采用不同的液相色谱系统或不同的色谱柱，组分的保留时间存在简单的线性关系，应用该线性关系可提高不同反相C18柱间保留时间重现性，经过实际样品在不同操作条件下的验证，表明该方法是正确而可行的。     

Comparison of different setups for one- and two-dimensional capillary high-performance liquid chromatography and pressurized capillary electrochromatography coupled on-line with mass spectrometry

A comparison of different separation methods (high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), capillary HPLC (CHPLC) and pressurized capillary electrochromatography (pCEC)) coupled on-line with mass spectrometry (MS) is undertaken using the separation of a crude extract of ergot fungus (secalis cornuti) as an example. New and simple setups for a two-dimensional CHPLC coupled on-line with electrospray ionization (ESI)-MS (2D-CHPLC-MS) as well as for capillary size-exclusion chromatography performed under pCEC conditions and coupled on-line with ESI-MS (CSEC-pCEC-MS) are shown. In addition, an improved method for column packing is presented.     

茚虫威对映体分离及手性拆分热力学研究

在纤维素-三-(3,5-二甲基苯基氨基甲酸酯)(Chiralcel OD-H)手性柱上对茚虫威对映体的分离进行了研究。考察了流动相中改性剂种类和浓度、流速及柱温对分离效果的影响,并对茚虫威对映体与固定相之间保留和分离的热力学机理进行了讨论。结果表明,以正己烷-异丙醇(85∶15)为流动相,柱温为25℃,流速1.0 mL.min-1时,茚虫威对映体能获得基线分离,分离因子(α)和分离度(Rs)分别为1.50和3.49;分别以5种体积分数均为15%的醇改性正己烷,分离因子的变化顺序为:异丁醇异丙醇乙醇正丁醇正丙醇,正丙醇的分离因子为1.67,证明醇的极性和空间位阻同时影响拆分效果;在0.4~1.1 mL.min-1的流速范围内,分离度(Rs)随着流速的增大而逐渐减小;当柱温为15~35℃时,分离因子随着温度的升高呈降低趋势,两对映体的lnα与1/T呈良好的线性关系,手性拆分过程受焓的控制。     

Organo-silica nano-particles used in ultrahigh-pressure liquid chromatography

A simple one-step process was used to synthesize uniform, spherical organosilica nano-particles containing octadecyl moieties. These nano-particles, having a diameter of 670 nm, were slurry packed into fused-silica capillary tubes of 50 microm internal diameter and tested for use in ultrahigh-pressure liquid chromatography (UHPLC) at inlet pressures of about 50,000 psi (approximately 3,500 bar), providing for the use of HPLC with nano-particle packed columns. The retention characteristics of a column packed with the organo-nano-particles were shown to be stable under acidic (pH < 1) and basic (pH > 11) conditions. Fast analysis times and relatively high separation efficiencies (approximately 500,000 plates m(-1)) were obtained under the conditions used.     

Enthalpy assisted size exclusion chromatography. Part 2. Adsorption retention mechanism

A novel high performance liquid chromatographic method for separation of synthetic polymers has been tested. It involves combination of the enthalpic and entropic retention mechanisms, resulting in increased selectivity of separation within a specific molar mass range. In this present case, the enthalpic retention mechanism is adsorption of macromolecules on a bare silica gel column packing. Under critical conditions of enthalpic interactions, homopolymers are known to elute irrespective of their molar mass. However, in the vicinity of critical conditions, a situation can be identified when retention volumes (V(R)) rapidly decrease with increasing molar mass. Typically, this happens for polymer species close to or above their exclusion limit observed with the same column in the absence of enthalpic interactions between macromolecules and packing, that is near "ideal SEC" conditions. The dependence of polymer retention volume on molar mass closely resembles size exclusion conditions. However, the witnessed rate of change in V(R )with polymer molar mass is more pronounced, thus indicating increased selectivity of separation. This situation not only offers the benefit of more selective separation according to molar mass but efficient discrimination of macromolecules possessing different nature and interactivity with the column packing can be accomplished as well.