Analysis of polyethoxylated surfactants in microemulsion-oil-water systems: III. Fractionation and partitioning of polyethoxylated alcohol surfactants

Oligomer distribution of polyethoxylated alcohol and polyethoxylated nonylphenol surfactants is studied by normal and reverse-phase high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). A RP8 column is able to efficiently separate these surfactants according to their alkyl chain (lipophilic) group, while silica and amino columns separate them according to their polyether chain length (hydrophilic group). Polyethoxylated alcohol and polyethoxylated nonylphenol oligomers selectively partition between the microemulsion-oil-water phases of a Winsor III system. Partitioning of these oligomers was analyzed by HPLC with RI detection. The logarithm of the partition coefficient between the water and oil linearly increases with the number of ethylene oxide groups per molecule of oligomer. For a same ethoxylation degree, the partition coefficient of a polyethoxylated tridecanol is found to be higher than the one of the corresponding nonylphenol specie. On the other hand, a polyethoxylated nonylphenol exhibits a higher solubilization than the matching polyethoxylated alcohol.     

Continuous system with microwave irradiation to obtain alkyl benzoates

In this study, a continuous linear alcohol derivatization is developed. Reaction of alcohol group (ROH) with benzoyl chloride (BC) is carried out in an on-line system with UV detection. All reaction conditions, as flow rate (FR), ROH/BC molar ratio, wavelength, temperature, microwave (MW) irradiation and reaction coil size (internal diameter and length) were optimized. 0.5 mL min⁻¹, 2.49 [BC]/[ROH], 230 nm, 60 °C or medium power (225 W) when MW irradiation was used and a reactor coil of 159 μL (0.5 mm × 810 mm) were the optimum conditions. The on-line system with microwave irradiation was more efficient than the one with a water bath heating. The developed system reduces analysis time consumption, reagent amounts and this system was used to evaluate the composition of commercial samples of alcohols polyethoxylated (surfactants).     

Complete quality analysis of commercial surface-active products by Fourier-transform near infrared spectroscopy

Using proper calibration data Fourier-transform near infrared spectroscopy is used for developing multivariate calibrations for different analytical determinations routinely used in the surfactants industry. Four products were studied: oleyl-cetyl alcohol polyethoxylated, cocamidopropyl betaine (CAPB), sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) and nonylphenol polyethoxylated (NPEO). Calibrations for major as well as very low concentrated compounds were achieved and every model was validated through linearity, bias, accuracy and precision tests, showing good results and the viability of NIR spectroscopy as a full quality control method for this products. Duplicate and complete analysis on a single sample takes at most 3 min, requiring neither sample preparation nor the use of reagents. The analytical reference procedures involved in this work represent the typical ones used in the industry and the NIR method shows good results in the analysis of components with weight concentrations less than 1%.     

Developing an on-line derivatization of FAs by microwave irradiation coupled to HPLC separation with UV detection

The development of analytical methods for routine simultaneous identification and quantification of carboxylic fatty acids (CFAs) are required in different fields, such as, pharmaceutical cosmetics, food products and formulations of water–microemulsion–oil systems. Determination of CFAs has been developed mainly by gas chromatography (GC). As an alternative to GC, liquid chromatography (LC) has better sensitivity and selectivity. However, most CFAs show no useful absorption in ultraviolet–violet (UV–Vis) region, one of the more used detection technique in high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). In order to allow the use of UV–Vis detection, the use of pre-column derivatization has been reported to increase sensitivity and selectivity. Therefore, establishment of a simpler and faster on-line method with complete separation is needed for the screening of large numbers of samples. 2,4-Dinitrophenylhydrazine (2,4-DNPH.), benzoil chloride (BC), and phenylhydrazine (PH) were used for derivatization of different FAs by microwaves radiation (MW). After the on-line derivatization, products were separated and quantified by HPLC. Reactor coil was placed inside of microwaves oven at 450 W. Parameters as flow, amount of reagents, irradiation time, and chromatographic conditions were optimized. The continuous analysis using the MW–HPLC–UV system provided high sensitivity and reduced both the amount of reagent used and the analysis times. This proposed method can be used for the routine analysis of FAs contained in water–microemulsion–oil systems, to quantify the total acid fraction in each phase.     

Characterisation of ethoxylated fatty chains of anionic surfactants and determination of residual ethoxylated fatty alcohols

Bachus et al. [1] recently described a new derivatisation method using 2-furoyl chloride for the characterisation of mixtures of polyethoxylated alcohols and their corresponding sulfates. This paper deals with the control of the derivatisation steps; hydrolysis and extraction conditions were optimised. The method is extended to the characterisation of alkyl sulfosuccinates, alkyl sulfoacetates and alkyl phosphates and to the analysis of residual polyethoxylated alcohols in surfactants. Extraction of non-ionic compounds using solid-phase extraction cartridges was performed before derivatisation. Residual amounts of alcohol were determined in five commercial anionic surfactants. Moreover, direct derivatisation without preliminary SPE in the same anionic surfactants proved to be efficient for dry samples.     

Application of column switching in high-performance liquid chromatographic analysis of medroxalol in plasma

An automated high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) column-switching system is described for the analysis of medroxalol, a potential antihypertensive agent, in plasma. The HPLC system uses two six-port switching valves with a Corasil C18 short pre-column for an on-line sample clean-up and an SGE ODS analytical column for separation. Plasma samples were diluted with a phosphate buffer (pH 7.2) containing an internal standard and aliquots were injected directly on the HPLC system. The column-switching system was applicable to continuous analysis of hundreds of plasma samples since this technique provided very efficient on-line sample clean-up and regenerated the pre-column effectively. Results were in good agreement and the total analysis time was one third that of an alternative method.     

Determination of non-ionic surfactants and polar degradation products in influent and effluent water samples and sludges of sewage treatment plants by a generic solid-phase extraction protocol

Non-ionic polyethoxylated surfactants (nonylphenol polyethoxylates, alcohol polyethoxylates), their breakdown products (polyethylene glycol, polyethoxylated nonylphenol carboxylates and polyethoxylated alcohol carboxylates) and other compounds were identified and measured in various waste-water treatment samples (influent, effluent and sludge). A generic protocol involving the use of sequential solid-phase extraction (SSPE) with octadecylsilica and styrene-divinylbenzene cartridges in series and differential elution was used. Fractionated extracts were analyzed by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) using atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) in the positive and negative ionization modes. For sewage treatment plant (STP) sludge, the extraction protocol involved lyophilization of the sludge followed by sonication with MeOH-CH2Cl2 (7 + 3) and final clean-up using the SSPE protocol. Limits of detection for target analytes ranging from 1.1 to 4.1 micrograms L-1 for water samples and from 0.11 to 0.28 mg kg-1 for sludge were achieved. The results obtained demonstrated the inefficient removal of the target analytes in physico-chemical STPs whereas their elimination factors in STPs with biological treatment reached average values of 77, 92 and 98% for alcohol polyethoxylates, nonylphenol polyethoxylates (NPEOs) and polyethylene glycols (PEGs), respectively. Quantitative elimination of coconut fatty acid diethanolamide (CDEA) surfactants in the activated sludge process occurred. In contrast, total removal of NPEOs led to the formation of persistent and toxic metabolites such as nonylphenol which was present in treated effluent as well as in sludge samples with average concentrations ranging from 15.0 to 251.2 micrograms L-1 and from 13.5 to 74.2 mg kg-1, respectively. Polyethoxylated carboxylates and short chain NPEOs were also detected at similar levels in the effluents and sludges. In addition, a linear correlation between the total phenolic concentration (Total Ph) measured by the 4-aminoantipyrine method and the total concentration of nonylphenolic compounds (Total NP) measured by SSPE-LC-APCI-MS was observed.     

甲醇和乙醇在氩气-实时直接分析质谱中的应用

以氩气代替价格昂贵的氦气作为实时直接分析质谱(DART-MS)的工作气体以降低实验成本。甲醇和乙醇作为作为两种辅助性反应试剂,在Ar-DART-MS分析中充当能量传递的媒介和质子的供体,可以提高Ar-DART-MS的电离效率并扩展其应用范围。通过甲醇和乙醇作为反应性试剂在Ar-DART-MS的背景信号及对样品电离影响的分析,探讨了它们的应用范围,以及在电离过程中存在的一些可能的特征反应。该方法的有效性通过对利血平的分析结果获得。     

Alcohols immobilization onto 2-chlorotritylchloride resin under microwave irradiation

The immobilization of alcohols onto 2-chlorotritylchloride resin using microwave irradiation was studied. Three different Fmoc-aminoalcohols were tested: the phenol-like Fmoc-tyramine, the primary alcohol Fmoc-ethanolamine, and the secondary alcohol Fmoc-4-hydroxypiperidine. Several reaction conditions were evaluated: different bases, reaction times, temperatures, and concentrations. Microwave immobilization resulted is effective in binding to the resin all three types of alcohols with loadings which were superior or comparable to the ‘classical’ methods in shorter time and without employing toxic and racemizing reagents. This method resulted also useful for the immobilization, through the hydroxyl group, of FmocTyrOAll, FmocSerOAll, and FmocThrOAll, important building blocks for the synthesis of cyclic peptides.     

五味子提取物高效液相色谱分析方法的优化

针对五味子乙醇提取物的复杂体系,借助于复杂样品分析系统软件(CSASS),根据组分在4次简单线性梯度下42个峰的保留时间,快速准确地计算出各组分的液相色谱保留参数a,c值和峰形参数σ,W1/2。借助这些参数,对五味子色谱的分离情况进行高精度仿真预测。在此基础上,应用移动重叠分辨分离图和谱图仿真技术,发展了计算机辅助的五味子提取物的高效液相色谱全局优化方法。在优化条件下,五味子提取物的高效液相色谱分析可在40 min内完成,且常量成分和部分低含量成分都能够得到较好的分离。所建立的方法已成功地用于五味子中化合物保留时间及峰形的预测,并在此基础上对其色谱分离条件进行优化。     

Mechanistic investigations and spectrokinetic parameter determination during thermoreversible photochromism with degradation: example of application to the triphenylimidazolyl dimer (TPID) system

A numerical method is proposed for the kinetic analysis of the experimental absorbance vs. time curves obtained during continuous irradiation and thermal equilibration of a thermoreversible photochromic system with degradation. The quantum yield amd molar absorption coefficients of the unstable coloured species can be determined simultaneously using a kinetic model which encompasses all details of the reaction mechanism including the degradation process. The efficacy and accuracy of this method are illustrated by an analysis of the triphenylimidazolyl dimer (TPID) system in toluene solution.     

Determination of ethanol in alcoholic beverages by high-performance liquid chromatography-flame ionization detection using pure water as mobile phase

A method for the determination of ethanol in alcoholic beverages by high-performance liquid chromatography-flame ionization detection (HPLC-FID) was developed. An FID system could be directly connected to an HPLC system using pure water as a mobile phase. In a durability test using triacontylsilyl (C30)-silica gel stationary phase for 96 h, no significant change in the retention time of four alcohol compounds was observed. So the HPLC separation of alcoholic beverages was carried out on the C30-silica gel stationary phase. On application to the analysis of six kinds of alcoholic beverages, ethanol could be determined accurately by the proposed method.     

Improved capillary electrophoresis method for the determination of carbohydrate-deficient transferrin in patient sera

Capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) with a dynamic double coating formed by charged polymeric reagents represents an effective tool for the separation of iron-saturated transferrin (Tf) isoforms and thus the determination of carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT, sum of asialo-, monosialo- and disialo-Tf in relation to total Tf) in human serum. Using the CEofix-CDT reagents, a 50 microm inner diameter (ID) capillary of 60 cm total length and the P/ACE MDQ under optimized instrumental conditions (20 kV and 30 degrees C) is demonstrated to provide outstanding assay precision for the determination of CDT in human serum. For CDT levels of 1.0% and 4.5%, precision relative standard deviation (RSD) values (n = 8) were determined to be < 3.0% and < 1.5%, respectively. During the first year of operation under routine conditions, more than 600 patient samples were analyzed in a total of 62 sets of runs. Except for selected samples of patients with severe liver diseases, interference-free Tf patterns were detected. Asialo-Tf was not detected in control sera and in patient sera with a CDT level < 1.70%, but became detectable in 89.6% of sera with > 2.3% disialo-Tf. Monosialo-Tf was only detected in two sera containing > 13.3% CDT. The optimized CZE assay was applied to confirm positive CDT results produced by an immunoassay during long-term monitoring of a patient which led to the determination of the elimination kinetics of asialo-Tf, disialo-Tf, and CDT after an episode of high alcohol consumption (estimated apparent half lifes of 4.86, 7.24, and 6.74 days, respectively). The optimized CZE assay with an upper reference limit for CDT of 1.70% represents an attractive alternative to high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). It features simpler sample preparation, faster analysis time, and higher isoform resolution compared to the most recent HPLC approach and can thus be regarded as a new candidate of a reference method for CDT.     

Acceleration of arylzinc formation and its enantioselective addition to aldehydes by microwave irradiation and aziridine-2-methanol catalysts

The formation and 2-amino alcohol catalyzed addition of arylzinc reagents from and with boronic acids, respectively, is drastically accelerated to a few minutes under microwave irradiation without loss of enantioselectivity (up to 98% ee). Of the amino acid derived catalysts tested, the conformationally restricted bulky substituted aziridine-2-methanols derived from serine show the best overall performance in the formation of diarylmethanols.     

Synthesis and evaluation of fluorogenic reagents for simultaneous detection of peptides and proteins by HPLC in two different samples

To find the pairs of fluorogenic reagents having similar retention times in HPLC but with different fluorescent characteristics, six fluorogenic reagents bearing benzoxadiazole or benzoselenadiazole skeletons were synthesized. The resultant derivatives obtained from the reaction of peptides and proteins with reagents which have a benzoselenadiazole skeleton showed different fluorescence characteristics from those with a benzoxadiazole skeleton. Since each corresponding derivatives of trypsin inhibitor and BSA with DAABD-Cl and 7-fluoro-N-[2-(diethylamino)ethyl]-2,1,3-benzoselenadiazole-4-sulfonamide (DEAEABSeD-F) have similar retention times, the pair of reagents was adopted for the sensitive simultaneous detection of proteins in two different samples. When the soluble fraction of mouse hippocampus was divided into the two samples (A and B), each was reacted with DEAEABSeD-F for A and DAABD-Cl for B, respectively. The two reaction solutions were combined and subjected to HPLC analysis with two fluorescent detectors in series (excitation and emission at different wavelengths for A and B, respectively). The resultant two chromatograms had quite similar patterns for each other. The new pair of fluorogenic reagents (DAABD-Cl and DEAEABSeD-F) would be applicable to proteomics studies using the previously reported FD-LC-MS/MS method.     

Recent progress in the development of derivatization reagents having a benzofurazan structure

Chemical derivatization is often used to enhance the detectability of the target compounds and to improve the separation efficiency in high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). In this review, we describe the recent progress in the development of derivatization reagents having a benzofurazan structure, namely, the fluorogenic reagents, water-soluble reagents, reagents for the analysis of peptides and proteins, and reagents for mass spectrometric detection. The application of these reagents to bio-samples is also briefly described.     

Validated high-performance liquid chromatographic enantioseparation of selenomethionine using isothiocyanate based chiral derivatizing reagents

A high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method for enantioseparation of selenomethionine (SeMet) was developed using two isothiocyanate-based chiral derivatizing reagents [(R)-methyl benzyl isothiocyanate (MBIC) and (S)-1-(1-naphthyl) ethyl isothiocyanate (NEIC)] and UV detection. Diastereomers of selenomethionine were synthesized either via stirring (using MBIC) or by microwave irradiation (using NEIC). Derivatization conditions were optimized and the synthesized diastereomers were successfully resolved using triethyl ammonium phosphate buffer and acetonitrile on a reversed-phase column. The method was validated for accuracy, precision and limit of detection. The mechanism of separation is also discussed.     

并行捕集柱SFE-HPLC在线联用系统的构建及应用

在前期研究的基础上, 发展了采用自动十通阀/并行捕集柱接口构建了SFE和HPLC在线联用的新装置, 并利用该系统对灵芝子实体的超临界萃取过程进行实时监测.     

Sensitivity enhancement of liquid chromatographic-direct chemiluminescence detection by on-line post-column solvent mediated pre-oxidative chemiluminescence

The compatibility of liquid chromatography solvents with oxidizing reagents frequently employed in direct chemiluminescence reactions is examined in this study. Various oxidizing reagents were examined for their response in hydro-organic and micellar mobile phases in both isocratic and gradient elution modes. Mild oxidants like hydrogen peroxide, periodate, cerium and hypochlorite were found to be completely compatible with common reversed phase HPLC solvents posing as no threat to the detection procedure. On the other hand, stronger oxidants like acidic permanganate were found to oxidize organic solvents towards the production of an intense light signal. Although several analytical applications can emerge from this finding, the conjunction of this system with reversed phase HPLC is impractical owing to a significant baseline increase which deteriorates the sensitivity of the analysis. A convenient solution to this problem is proposed based on the regulated on-line post-column pre-oxidation of the organic solvent (SPOC) with mild oxidants that have no influence on the final signal. The analytical utility of this new approach in the determination of organic compounds after chromatographic separation is demonstrated.     

Chromatographic identification of pesticides

The chromatographic properties of 51 common pesticides have been measured using seven different chromatographic systems involving gas-liquid chromatography (GLC), high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with diode-array spectrophotometric detection and thin-layer chromatography (TLC) with different spray reagents. Correlation coefficients were calculated for combinations of all systems. The best combination of the chromatographic systems examined for the identification of an unknown compound is GLC on OV-17, HPLC on ODS-Hypersil with acetonitrile-water as eluent and TLC using an isooctane-ethyl acetate solvent system.