Distribution ratio, distribution constant and partition coefficient. Countercurrent chromatography retention of benzoic acid

There is some confusion in chromatography between terms such as solute distribution ratio, distribution constant and partition coefficient. These terms are very precisely defined in the field of liquid-liquid systems and liquid-liquid extraction as well as in the field of chromatography with sometimes conflicting definitions. Countercurrent chromatography (CCC) is a chromatographic technique in which the stationary phase is a support-free liquid. Since the mobile phase is also liquid, biphasic liquid systems are used. This work focuses on the exact meaning of the terms since there are consequences on experimental results. The retention volumes of solutes in CCC are linearly related to their distribution ratios. The partition coefficient that should be termed (IUPAC recommendation) distribution constant is linked to a single definite species. Using benzoic acid that can dimerize in heptane and ionize in aqueous phase and an 18 mL hydrodynamic CCC column, the role and relationships between parameters and the consequences on experimental peak position and shape are discussed. If the heptane/water distribution constant (marginally accepted to be called partition coefficient) of benzoic acid is 0.2 at 20 °C and can be tabulated in books, its CCC measured distribution ratio or distribution coefficient can change between zero (basic aqueous mobile phase) and more than 25 (acidic aqueous mobile phase and elevated concentration). Benzoic acid distribution ratio and partition coefficient coincide only when both dimerization and ionization are quenched, i.e. at very low concentration and pH 2. It is possible to quench dimerization adding butanol in the heptane/water system. However, butanol additions also affect the partition coefficient of benzoic acid greatly by increasing it.     

Advantages of a small-volume counter-current chromatography column

Counter-current chromatography (CCC) works with a support-free liquid stationary phase. This allows for preparative separations and purifications. However, there are serious technical constraints because of the need to keep a liquid stationary phase in a column. Centrifugal fields are used. A new commercial hydrodynamic 18 mL column made with a narrow-bore 0.8 mm Teflon tubing was evaluated by comparing it with older hydrodynamic CCC columns and a similar 19 mL column but made with 1.6 mm Teflon tubing. A small-volume CCC column allows for reliable and fast solute partition coefficient determination. When resolution is required, both high efficiency and liquid stationary phase retention are needed. Unfortunately, these two requirements bear technical contradictions. A column coiled with a narrow tubing bore will provide a high chromatographic efficiency while a column containing wider tubing bore will achieve higher stationary phase retention. In all cases, increasing the magnitude of the centrifugal field also increases the stationary phase retention. The solution is to build centrifuges able to produce high fields that will provide acceptable liquid phase retention with narrow-bore tubes. The new 18 mL 0.8 mm tubing bore column is able to rotate as fast as 2100 rpm generating a 240 × g field. The two older CCC columns cannot compete with the new one. However, the small 19 mL column with 1.6 mm bore tubing can be useful when fast results are desired without top resolution.     

Determination of liquid-liquid partition coefficients by separation methods

By essence, all kinds of chromatographic methods use the partitioning of solutes between a stationary and a mobile phase to separate them. Not surprisingly, separation methods are useful to determine accurately the liquid-liquid distribution constants, commonly called partition coefficient. After briefly recalling the thermodynamics of the partitioning of solutes between two liquid phases, the review lists the different methods of measurement in which chromatography is involved. The shake-flask method is described. The ease of the HPLC method is pointed out with its drawback: the correlation is very sensitive to congeneric effect. Microemulsion electrokinetic capillary electrophoresis has become a fast and reliable method commonly used in industry. Counter-current chromatography (CCC) is a liquid chromatography method that uses a liquid stationary phase. Since the CCC solute retention volumes are only depending on their partition coefficients, it is the method of choice for partition coefficient determination with any liquid system. It is shown that Ko/w, the octanol-water partition coefficients, are obtained by CCC within the -1 < log Ko/w < 4 range, without any correlation or standardization using octanol as the stationary phase. Examples of applications of the knowledge of liquid-liquid partition coefficient in the vast world of solvent extraction and hydrophobicity estimation are presented.     

Isolation of all-trans lycopene by high-speed counter-current chromatography using a temperature-controlled solvent system

The effect of solvent system, partition coefficient, retention of stationary phase, column, revolution speed, and flow rate of mobile phase are well known parameters to effect HSCCC (high-speed counter-current chromatography) separations. Temperature effects on chromatographic techniques like HPLC and GC are well studied, but the influence of temperature on CCC solvent systems is hardly investigated. This paper presents the influence of temperature on several key parameters (partition coefficient, settling time, volume ratios) in the hydrophobic HSCCC solvent system hexane:dichloromethane:acetonitrile (30:11:18, v/v/v) used for the isolation of lycopene from tomato paste at 10, 15, 20 and 25 degrees C.     

Experimental observations of the hydrodynamic behavior of solvent systems in high-speed counter-current chromatography. III. Effects of physical properties of the solvent systems and operating temperature on the distribution of two-phase solvent systems

Statistical studies were made to correlate the hydrodynamic behavior of two-phase solvent system in counter-current chromatography (CCC) to their physical properties including interfacial tension, viscosity, and the difference in density of the two phases. Settling time measured under unit gravity provided a reliable numerical index for the hydrodynamic behavior of the solvent systems in a centrifugal force field. Viscosity and settling time were strongly correlated (correlation coefficient, r = +0.88) while interfacial tension (r = -0.65) and phase density difference (r = -0.45) showed moderate and weak correlation, respectively. Studies of the effect of temperature on settling time as well as a preliminary apparatus operated at higher temperature show that raising the temperature will improve the performance of high-speed CCC.     

Alkane effect in the Arizona liquid systems used in countercurrent chromatography

Countercurrent chromatography (CCC) is a separation technique that uses a biphasic liquid system; one liquid phase is the mobile phase, the other liquid phase is the stationary phase. Selection of the appropriate liquid system can be a problem in CCC, since it is necessary to select both the “column” and the mobile phase at the same time as the first is completely dependent on the second. A range of systems with various proportions of solvents were developed to ease this choice; 23 variations of the heptane/ethyl acetate/methanol/water biphasic liquid system were labeled A to Z. This range proved to be extremely useful and became the popular Arizona (AZ) liquid system. However, authors often replace the heptane with hexane. In this work, the chemical compositions of the upper phases and the lower phases of 55 Arizona systems made with various alkanes (pentane, hexane, heptane, isooctane and cyclohexane) were determined by gas chromatography and Karl Fischer titration. The test mixture separated consisted of five steroid compounds. The lower phases were found to have similar compositions when different alkanes were used, but the upper phases were found to change. Exchanging heptane for hexane or isooctane produced minimal changes in the CCC chromatogram, while changing the proportions of the solvents resulted in an exponential change in the retention volumes. The high density of cyclohexane made liquid stationary phase retention difficult. All Arizona systems equilibrated within 30 min, but were not stable: water slowly hydrolyzed the ethyl acetate (as shown by a continuous decrease in the pH of the lower aqueous phase), especially in the water-rich systems (early alphabet letters).     

On the chromatography mechanism of reversed-phase liquid chromatography

Summary An equation is derived which can describe how the retention of solutes is influenced by the composition of the mobile phase in reversed-phase liquid chromatography, the retention of solutes in alkyl bonded stationary phase regarded as the complexation between solute molecule and the active sites on the surface of the stationary phase. When the stationary phase is not fully saturated by the organic modifier, the activity of the active sites, the activity coefficient of the adsorbed solute as well as the activity coefficient of the solute in the mobile phase depend on the composition of the mobile phase. However, when the stationary phase is fully saturated, the composition of the mobile phase mainly influences the activity coefficient of the solute in the mobile phase. In addition, the selectivity of retention is discussed in terms of the derived equation.     

HPLC retention behavior on hydride-based stationary phases

Two stationary phases attached to a silica hydride surface, cholesterol and bidentate C18, are investigated with a number of pharmaceutically related compounds in order to illustrate the various retention mechanisms that are possible for these bonded materials. The test solutes range from hydrophilic to hydrophobic based on log P (octanol/water partition coefficient) and pKa values. The mobile phases consist of acidified (formic and perchloric acid) water/methanol or water/ACN mixtures. Of particular interest are the high organic content mobile phase compositions where the retention would increase if the bonded material was operating in the aqueous normal phase (ANP) mode. Plots of retention factor (k) versus mobile phase composition are used to elucidate the retention mechanism. A number of examples are presented where solutes are retained based on RP, ANP, or dual retention mechanisms. The silica hydride-based stationary phases can also retain compounds in the organic normal phase.     

Using the liquid nature of the stationary phase in counter-current chromatography V. The back-extrusion method

The main feature of counter-current chromatography (CCC) is that the stationary phase is a liquid as well as the mobile phase. The retention volumes of solutes are directly proportional to their distribution coefficients K(D) in the biphasic liquid system used in the CCC column. Solutes with high K(D) coefficients are highly retained in the column. The back-extrusion method (BECCC) uses the fact that the liquid stationary phase, that contains the retained solutes, can be easily moved. Switching the column inlet and outlet ports without changing the liquid phase used as the mobile phase causes the rapid collapse of the two immiscible liquid phases inside the column, the previously stationary phase being gathered at the new column outlet. Then this previously stationary liquid phase is extruded outside the CCC column carrying the retained solutes. The back-extrusion method is tested with a standard mixture of five compounds and compared with the recently described elution-extrusion method. It is shown that the chromatographic resolution obtained during the back-extrusion step is good because the solute band broadening is minimized as long as the solute is located inside the "stationary" phase. However, a major drawback of the BECCC method is that all solutes are split between the liquid phases according to their distribution ratios when the CCC column equilibrium is broken. The change of flowing direction should be done after a sufficient amount of mobile phase has flushed the column in the classical mode, eluting solutes with small and medium distribution ratios. Otherwise, a significant portion of the solutes will stay in the mobile phase inside the column and produce a broad peak showing after the stationary phase extrusion.     

An Integrated Theory of Adsorption and Partition Mechanism and Eash Contribution to Solute Retention in Reversed Phase Liquid Chromatography

With the combination of the the stoichiometric displacement model for retention (SDM-R) in reversed phase liquid chromatography (RPLC) and the stoichiometric displacement model for adsorption (SDM-A) in physical chemistry,the total number of moles of the re-solvated methanol of stationary phase side.nr,and that of solute side in the mobile phase,q,corresponding the one mole of the desorbing solute,were separately determined and referred as the characterization parameters of the contributions of the adsorption mechanism and partition mechanism to the solute retention,respectively.A chromatographic system of insulin,using mobile phase consisting of the pseudo-homologue of alcohols(methanol,ethanol and 2-propanol)-water and trifluoroacetic acid was employed.The maximum number of the methanol layers on the stationary phase surface was found to be 10.6,only 3 of which being valid in usual RPLC,traditionally referred as a volume process in partition mechanism.However,it still follows the SDM-R.Both of q and nr of insulin were found not to be zero,indicating that the retention mechanism of insulin is a mixed mode of partition mechanism and adsorption mechanism.When methanol is used as the organic modifier,the ratio of q/nr was 1.13,indicating the contribution to insulin retention due to partition mechanism being a bit greater than that due to adsorption mechanism.A linear relationship between q,or nr and the carbon number of the pseudo-homologue in the mobile phase was also found.As a methodology for investigating the retention mechanism retention and behavior of biopolymers.a homologue of organic solvents as the organic modifier in mobile phase has also been explored.     

Mobile phase effects in reversed-phase liquid chromatography: a comparison of acetonitrile/water and methanol/water solvents as studied by molecular simulation

Molecular simulations of water/acetonitrile and water/methanol mobile phases in contact with a C(18) stationary phase were carried out to examine the molecular-level effects of mobile phase composition on structure and retention in reversed-phase liquid chromatography. The simulations indicate that increases in the fraction of organic modifier increase the amount of solvent penetration into the stationary phase and that this intercalated solvent increases chain alignment. This effect is slightly more apparent for acetonitrile containing solvents. The retention mechanism of alkane solutes showed contributions from both partitioning and adsorption. Despite changes in chain structure and solvation, the molecular mechanism of retention for alkane solutes was not affected by solvent composition. The mechanism of retention for alcohol solutes was primarily adsorption at the interface between the mobile and stationary phase, but there were also contributions from interactions with surface silanols. The interaction between the solute and surface silanols become very important at high concentrations of acetonitrile.     

Test to evaluate countercurrent chromatographs. Liquid stationary phase retention and chromatographic resolution

Countercurrent chromatography (CCC) is a liquid chromatography (LC) technique with a special column able to retain a liquid stationary phase while the liquid mobile phase is pumped through. The coil planet centrifuge machines are made of open tube wound on spools. A simple test is proposed. The methanol-water (90:10, v/v)-heptane biphasic system is used with heptane as the mobile phase in the ascending or tail-to-head mode. The methanol-water stationary phase retention volume is measured at different flow-rates and rotor rotation speeds. After every machine equilibration, an alkylbenzene mixture is injected and the retention factors, peak efficiencies and resolution factors are measured or calculated for each solute. The wealth of information contained in the data set obtained is demonstrated. Four coil planet centrifuge machines of very different characteristics and one hydrostatic CCC machine with channels and ducts were submitted to the test. It was shown that the Sf, stationary retention factor, obtained with these machines was linearly dependent on the square root of F, the mobile phase flow-rate [Q. Du, C. Wu, G. Qian, P. Wu, Y. Ito, J. Chromatogr. A 835 (1999) 231-235]. It is shown that the slopes of the Sf versus F(1/2) lines could be related to a minimum rotor rotation, omega(mini), necessary to obtain the hydrodynamic equilibrium. The Sf and F parameters give the mobile phase linear velocity, u. It is shown that u is proportional to the square root of omega, the rotor rotation speed. The slope and intercept of the latter relationship also result in an omega(mini) value coherent with the first one. With the peak efficiencies and chromatographic resolution factors obtained for toluene and hexylbenzene, the parameters: number of plates per tubing turn, machine volume for one plate, and tubing length for one plate, were calculated and compared for the five machines. The internal diameter of the tubing used is shown to be a critical parameter acting on the machine volume and number of tubing turns.     

Resolution studies on counter-current chromatography using supercritical fluid carbon dioxide

Counter-current chromatography (CCC) is a form of liquid–liquid partition chromatography. It requires two immiscible solvent phases; the stationary phase is retained in the separation column, generally by centrifugal force, while the mobile phase is eluted. We recently replaced the mobile phase with supercritical fluid carbon dioxide (SF CO₂). Since the solvent strength of SF CO₂ can be varied by changing the temperature and pressure of the system, separation adjustments are thus more versatile. We investigated the pressure and temperature effects on resolution using water and low-carbon alcohol mixtures as the stationary phases. It was demonstrated that these special properties of SF CO₂ were indeed beneficial to the optimization of separations. In addition, the phase retention ratio was examined in terms of separation resolution. The results appeared very similar to those obtained from conventional traditional CCC. This study should be helpful for the future development of SF applications in CCC.     

Reversed phase liquid chromatography with UV absorbance and flame ionization detection using a water mobile phase and a cyano propyl stationary phase Analysis of alcohols and chlorinated hydrocarbons

The development of liquid chromatography with a commercially available cyano propyl stationary phase and a 100% water mobile phase is reported. Separations were performed at ambient temperature, simplifying instrumental requirements. Excellent separation efficiency using a water mobile phase was achieved, for example N=18 800, or 75 200 m(-1), was obtained for resorcinol, at a retention factor of k'=4.88 (retention time of 9.55 min at 1 ml min(-1) for a 25 cmx4.6 mm i.d. column, packed with 5 mum diameter particles with the cyano propyl stationary phase). A separation via reversed phase liquid chromatography (RP-LC) with a 100% water mobile phase of six phenols and related compounds was compared to a separation of the same compounds by traditional RP-LC, using octadecylsilane (ODS), i.e. C18, bound to silica and an aqueous mobile phase modified with acetonitrile. Nearly identical analysis time was achieved for the separation of six phenols and related compounds using the cyano propyl stationary phase with a 100% water mobile phase, as compared to traditional RP-LC requiring a relatively large fraction of organic solvent modifier in the mobile phase (25% acetonitrile:75% water). Additional understanding of the retention mechanism with the 100% water mobile phase was obtained by relating measured retention factors of aliphatic alcohols, phenols and related compounds, and chlorinated hydrocarbons to their octanol:water partition coefficients. The retention mechanism is found to be consistent with a RP-LC mechanism coupled with an additional retention effect due to residual hydroxyl groups on the cyano propyl stationary phase. Advantages due to a 100% water mobile phase for the chemical analysis of alcohol mixtures and chlorinated hydrocarbons are reported. By placing an absorbance detector in-series and preceding a novel drop interface to a flame ionization detector (FID), selective detection of a separated mixture of phenols and related compounds and aliphatic alcohols is achieved. The compound class of aliphatic alcohols is selectively and sensitively detected by the drop interface/FID, and the phenols and related compounds are selectively and sensitively detected by absorbance detection at 200 nm. The separation and detection of chlorinated hydrocarbons in a water sample matrix further illustrated the advantages of this methodology. The sensitivity and selectivity of the FID signal for the chlorinated hydrocarbons are significantly better than absorbance detection, even at 200 nm. This methodology is well suited to continuous and automated monitoring of water samples. The applicability of samples initially in an organic solvent matrix is explored, since an organic sample matrix may effect retention and efficiency. Separations in acetonitrile and isopropyl alcohol sample matrices compared well to separations with a water sample matrix.     

Using the liquid nature of the stationary phase in countercurrent chromatography. IV. The cocurrent CCC method

The retention volumes of solutes in countercurrent chromatography (CCC) are directly proportional to their distribution coefficients, K(D) in the biphasic liquid system used as mobile and stationary phase in the CCC column. The cocurrent CCC method consists in putting the liquid "stationary" phase in slow motion in the same direction as the mobile phase. A mixture of five steroid compounds of widely differing polarities was used as a test mixture to evaluate the capabilities of the method with the biphasic liquid system made of water/methanol/ethyl acetate/heptane 6/5/6/5 (v/v) and a 53 mL CCC column of the coil planet centrifuge type. It is shown that the chromatographic resolution obtained in cocurrent CCC is very good because the solute band broadening is minimized as long as the solute is located inside the "stationary" phase. Pushing the method at its limits, it is demonstrated that the five steroids can still be (partly) separated when the flow rate of the two liquid phases is the same (2 mL/min). This is due to the higher volume of upper phase (72% of the column volume) contained inside the CCC column producing a lower linear speed compared to the aqueous lower phase linear speed. The capabilities of the cocurrent CCC method compare well with those of the gradient elution method in HPLC. Continuous detection is a problem due to the fact that two immiscible liquid phases elute from the column. It was partly solved using an evaporative light scattering detector.     

Band broadening inside the chromatographic column: the interest of a liquid stationary phase

Band broadening inside chromatographic columns was studied by Giddings 40 years ago. This theory is revisited pointing out that the band width depends only on the band position, x, inside the column and the height equivalent to a theoretical plate, H, and not on the solute affinity for the stationary phase. The band standard deviation, sigma, inside the column is simply sigma = square root [xH]. This property can be used in countercurrent chromatography (CCC), a chromatographic technique that works with a liquid stationary phase. Two possibilities are presented: 1-extrusion of the liquid stationary phase called elution-extrusion method, and 2-slow motion of the stationary phase in the same direction as the mobile phase, called cocurrent CCC method. A mixture of five steroids, prednisone, prednisolone acetate, testosterone, estrone and cholesterol, with partition coefficient varying from 0.1 to 40, is used with a 53 mL CCC column to show the method capabilities. The elution-extrusion method is discontinuous; however, it allows saving dramatic amounts of solvent and time. Cholesterol could be fully resolved in 2h and 120 mL instead of 7 h and 1.2 L using the classical elution way. The cocurrent CCC method is continuous and was able to resolve cholesterol at baseline in 40 min using 110 mL. Detection is difficult due to the fact that two immiscible liquid phases enter the detector.     

The Efficiency of Substance Separation in Countercurrent Liquid Chromatography

The effect of hydrodynamic parameters and the specific features of instrument design on the efficiency of substance separation in countercurrent liquid chromatography (CCC) was studied using a constant retention factor of the stationary phase in the column. The study was conducted with the separation of benzyl alcohol and p-cresol in a two-phase liquid system heptane–ethyl acetate–methanol–water (1.4 : 0.6 : 1 : 1) in as an example. It was shown that the peak resolution is improved with an increase in the rotational speed of the column and a decrease in the flow rate of the mobile phase. The best peak separation was attained using columns for which the ratio of the column rotation radius to the radius of column revolution was 0.615. It was shown that countercurrent chromatography allows the separation of substances with low partition constants (K < 1) in dilute solutions. The volume of the test sample may be up to 15% of the total volume of the chromatography column.     

Numerical simulation of two-phase partition chromatography in microchannels for moderated log P measurements

A finite element simulation has been used in order to study the partition chromatography process of one species between an aqueous mobile phase and an organic stationary phase located at the bottom of a rectangular microchannel. The transient model incorporates convection--diffusion of the species in the water phase coupled to the diffusion in the stationary organic phase by the way of the partition kinetics at the interface. The time evolution of the injected species concentration is analyzed versus the velocity of the mobile phase, the detecting position and the thickness of the stationary phase. The comparison of simulation results with both experimental data and analytical model confirm its validity. These simulations show that thin channels can be used to measure log P of molecules from their retention time. Finally, we have shown how the sample velocity can be optimized for a given geometry of the channel and diffusion coefficient of the species.     

Hydrophobicity of ionisable compounds studied by countercurrent chromatography

Countercurrent chromatography (CCC) is a liquid chromatography technique in which the stationary phase is also a liquid. The main chemical process involved in solute separation is partitioning between the two immiscible liquid phases: the mobile phase and the support-free liquid stationary phase. The octanol-water partition coefficients (P(o/w)) is the accepted parameter measuring the hydrophobicity of molecules. It is considered to estimate active principle partitioning over a biomembrane. It was related to the substance biological activity. CCC is able to work with an octanol stationary phase and an aqueous mobile phase. In this configuration, CCC is a useful and easy alternative to measure directly the P(o/w) of the molecules compared to other methods including the classical and tedious shake-flask method. Three ketones are used as model compounds to illustrate the CCC protocol of P(o/w) measurement. The focus of this work is put on ionisable molecules whose apparent P(o/w) is completely changed by ionization. β-Blockers, diuretics and sulfonamides are compound classes that were studied. Some of the experimentally determined P(o/w) coefficients of the molecular forms disagreed with calculated and experimental values available in the literature. The P(o/w) coefficients of the ionic forms and the acidity constants were also calculated using a theoretical model. Relationships between biological properties and hydrophobicity are also discussed.