Automatic analysis of serum lactate dehydrogenase isoenzymes by high-performance ion-exchange chromatography

The repetitive analysis of serum lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) isoenzymes has been performed on a weak anion exchanger (TSKgel DEAE-5PW), which was developed by introducing diethylaminoethyl groups into TSKgel G5000PW (10 microns particle diameter)--a hydrophilic polymer-based material of large pore size--for high-performance gel chromatography. By use of this anion exchanger, a high-pH (greater than 8.0) solvent could be used and the albumin peak was completely separate from the LDH isoenzyme peaks. After 10 successive analyses with an autosampler, the coefficient of variation of the LDH isoenzyme elution times was less than or equal to 0.90%, and the coefficient of variation for peak areas was less than or equal to 3.85%. After 40 successive analyses, resolution between isoenzymes was generally greater than 1.25. This column can be used for more than 300 intermittent injections of human serum.     

Anion analysis in uranium ore concentrates by ion chromatography

In the present exploratory study, the applicability of anionic impurities for attributing nuclear material to a certain chemical process or origin has been investigated. Anions (e.g., nitrate, sulphate, fluoride, chloride) originate from acids or salt solutions that are used for processing of solutions containing uranium or plutonium. The study focuses on uranium ore concentrates (“yellow cakes”) originating from different mines. Uranium is mined from different types of ore body and depending on the type of rock, different chemical processes for leaching, dissolving and precipitating the uranium need to be applied. Consequently, the anionic patterns observed in the products of these processes (the “ore concentrates”) are different. The concentrations of different anionic species were measured by ion chromatography using conductivity detection. The results show clear differences of anion concentrations and patterns between samples from different uranium mines. Besides this, differences between sampling campaigns in a same mine were also observed indicating that the uranium ore is not homogeneous in a mine. These within-mine variations, however, were smaller than the between-mine variations.     

Separation of vanadium isotopes by ion-exchange chromatography

Cation-exchange displacement chromatography of VO2+ was carried out for studying vanadium isotope effects in carboxylate ligand-exchange systems. The heavier isotope 51V was enriched in the carboxylate complex solution. The isotope separation coefficients epsilon(= alpha-1) for 50V/51V were 2.2 x 10(-4) and 2.4 x 10(-4) for citrate and lactate systems at 298 K, respectively. These values are much larger than those obtained in a previous study on the malate system. The existence of binuclear complexes of VO2+ may create the conditions for larger isotope fractionation. From the viewpoint of the process development of isotope separation, the heights equivalent to a theoretical plate of these processes were analyzed and found to be very small in each system due to the homogeneous, small and highly porous resin used. Citrate may be better than the other tested systems for the vanadium isotope separation.     

Simultaneous analysis of six inorganic anions in urine by double-suppress ion-exchange chromatography

This study is aimed to establish a simple, rapid, and accurate ion chromatography approach for the simultaneous detection of six inorganic anions in urine. Various performance parameters affecting the determination of anions were optimized, including the selection of sample protein precipitation agent, eluent, and flow rate. The final eluent was 3.6 mmol/L sodium carbonate and 12% isopropanol with a flow rate of 0.6 mL/min. Acetonitrile was used for pretreatment to precipitate proteins, and the volume ratio of urine to acetonitrile was 1:4. The correlation coefficient of the target anion calibration curve ranged from 0.9973 to 0.9999. The limit of detection ranged from 1.50 to 12.0 μg/L, and the method detection limit ranged from 15.0 to 120 μg/L. The standard recovery rate for low, medium, and high concentrations ranged from 90 to 110%. The inter-day and intra-day relative standard deviations were <5%. The method has high accuracy and good reproducibility and is suitable for the separation and determination of anions in urine.     

Automated procedures for the spectrophotometric analysis of steel and slag

Summary The Technicon AutoAnalyzer has been successfully used for the automatic determination of phosphorus, manganese, and silicon in most types of steel. Phosphorus and silicon are determined as molybdenum-blue complexes and manganese is determined as permanganate.The system has also been applied to the determination of iron, manganese, phosphorus, and aluminium in steelmaking slags. For both steel and slag the sample is decomposed in acid, silicon removed as metasilicic acid and the solution diluted to a volume. From this stage the analysis is completely automatic.

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Zusammenfassung Der Technicon AutoAnalyzer wurde mit Erfolg zur automatischen Bestimmung von Phosphor, Mangan und Silicium in den meisten Stahlsorten eingesetzt. Phosphor und Silicium wurden dabei als Molybdänblau-Komplexe, Mangan als Permanganat bestimmt. Ebenso wurden auch Eisen, Mangan, Phosphor und Aluminium in den bei der Stahlerzeugung anfallenden Schlacken bestimmt. In beiden Fällen wird die Probe mit Säure aufgeschlossen, Silicium als Metakieselsäure entfernt und die Lösung zu einem bestimmten Volumen verdünnt. Von da ab verläuft das weitere Verfahren vollständig automatisch.

     

Simultaneous spectrophotometric determination of uranium and thorium by flow injection analysis using selective masking.

A flow injection system for the simultaneous determination of uranium and thorium has been developed by using selective masking and a spectrophotometric detector with two flow cells aligned with the same optical path. The injected sample solution was first mixed with a reagent solution containing Chromazurol S (CAS) and cetyltrimethylammonium chloride (CTMAC), and the total absorbance of uranium- and thorium-CAS complexes was measured in the first flow cell at 620 nm. The sample stream was then mixed with an EDTA solution in order to convert the thorium-CAS complex to a thorium-EDTA complex, and the absorbance of the uranium-CAS complex was measured in the second flow cell. The detection limits were 10 microg dm(-3) for uranium and 7 microg dm(-3) for thorium. The calibration graphs were linear (r < 0.9998) at least over the ranges of 0.1 to 10 mg dm(-3) for uranium and 0.08 to 8 mg dm(-3) for thorium. The RSDs were less than 1.5% (n = 3) in the calibration range. Uranium and thorium of up to the 6-fold concentration to each other could be determined in admixtures with relative errors of less than 3.3%. The sample throughput was 24 per hour. The proposed system was successfully applied to the analysis of a uranium-thorium ore mock solution by coupling with anion-exchange in a magnesium nitrate medium to eliminate interference from coexisting elements.     

Selective spectrophotometric determination of uranium

Uranium(VI) (10–100 μg) is extracted with 2% dibenzoylmethane in benzene at pH 6–7 while other cations are masked with CDTA (maximum of 8 μg/100 ml). Shaking with 6 M hydrochloric acid reintroduces uranium(VI) into the aqueous phase, where after evaporation and complexation with Arsenazo III in 0.02 M hydrochloric acid the final measurement of absorbance at 650 nm is performed. Iron(III), copper(II), aluminum, and zinc do not interfere even if present in amounts of 15–19 mmol.     

Chemical amplification methods for the sequential determination of trace amounts of ruthenium by titrimetric and spectrophotometric procedures

Two simple, inexpensive and rapid iodometric and spectrophotometric procedures were developed for trace amount determination of ruthenium. The proposed methods were based on the oxidation of ruthenium(II or III) with sodium periodate at pH 2.4-3.6, masking the excess periodate with sodium molybdate. The released iodate was then allowed to react with KI at pH 3, with subsequent determination of the released iodine spectrophotometry as triiodide at 350 nm or iodometry with 0.005 M sodium thiosulphate. This procedure offers an 18- and 15-fold amplification per Ru(II) or Ru(III) ion, respectively. Alternatively, the produced iodine was extracted with CHCl(3), shaken with an aqueous solution of sodium sulphite and the produced iodide ion was then allowed to react with bromine (or sodium periodate). The released iodate was subsequently determined by iodometry or spectrophotometry after addition of KI. The bromine and sodium periodate oxidation procedures offered 90- and 360-fold amplification per ruthenium(III) ion, and 108- and 432-fold amplification per ruthenium(II) ion. Ruthenium(IV) content was determined by these procedures after prior reduction to Ru(III) with sulphurous acid. The binary mixtures Ru(II)-Ru(III); Ru(III)-Ru(IV) and Ru(II)-Ru(IV) in aqueous solution at concentration 0.05 mug ml(-1) were successfully analyzed by the developed procedures. The utility of the proposed methods for the analysis of ruthenium in its complexes was demonstrated. Natural seawater and seawater spiked with ruthenium were analyzed satisfactorily.     

Model based robustness analysis of an ion-exchange chromatography step

Process development, optimization and robustness analysis for chromatographic separation are often entirely based on experimental work and generic knowledge. This paper describes a model-based approach that can be used to gain process knowledge and assist in the robustness analysis of an ion-exchange chromatography step using a model-based approach. A kinetic dispersive model, where the steric mass action model accounts for the adsorption is used to describe column performance. Model calibration is based solely on gradient elution experiments at different gradients, flow rates, pH and column loads. The position and shape of the peaks provide enough information to calibrate the model and thus single-component experiments can be avoided. The model is calibrated to the experiments and the confidence intervals for the estimated parameters are used to account for the model error throughout the analysis. The model is used to predict the result of a robustness analysis conducted as a factorial experiment and to design a robust pooling approach. The confidence intervals are used in a "worst case" approach where the parameters for the components are set at the edge of their confidence intervals to create a worst case for the removal of impurities at each point in the factorial experiment. The pooling limit was changed to ensure product quality at every point in the factorial analysis. The predicted purities and yields were compared to the experimental results to ensure that the prediction intervals cover the experimental results.     

Radiochemical analysis of the polar agrochemicals validamycin and the metabolite melamine by ion-exchange chromatography

Suitable analytical methods to determine the radiochemical purity of validamycin and melamine are not described in the literature. High performance ion-exchange chromatography for the detection of underivatized validamycin and melamine has been proposed. The compounds were separated on HPLC using a styrene-divinylbenzene copolymer based cation-exchanger. For the separation of validamycin a resin in the hydrogen-form has given a good separation and for melamine in the Na⁺-form. For the first time an ion-exchange separation of validamycin is described allowing the separation of at least four components of commercial validamycin: validamycin A, validamycin B or G, validoxylamine A and validoxylamine B or G without prior derivatization. The methods were applied to determine the radiochemical purity of ¹⁴C- or ³H labeled compounds.This revised version was published online in November 2005 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Hen egg white fractionation by ion-exchange chromatography

Major hen egg white proteins have been widely studied for their functional properties but these studies still are unable to explain, alone, all of the biological properties of hen egg white. Hence, it is still interesting to produce pure and non-altered proteins to improve our knowledge on the biological properties of hen egg white. Presently, identification and characterization of both bioactive peptides and minor proteins from hen egg white is essential work for progressing in the understanding of hen egg white biological properties. With this objective in mind, a new process for a complete "mucin free" hen egg white fractionation based on ion exchange chromatography is proposed. "Mucin free" egg white is fractionated into six different fractions. Four of them are high-recovery yield purified fractions of lysozyme, ovotransferrin, ovalbumin and flavoprotein. The two other fractions are enriched in recently detected minor proteins in hen egg white.     

Amino acid analysis of physiological fluids by high-performance liquid chromatography with phenylisothiocyanate derivatization and comparison with ion-exchange chromatography

The suitability of pre-column derivatization with phenylisothiocyanate followed by high-performance liquid chromatography was investigated as a means of analyzing free amino acids in plasma and other physiological fluids. A comparison was made between this method and a conventional ion-exchange method. The correlation coefficient for all the amino acids tested was greater than 0.9, except for proline and tryptophan. Various forms of sample preparation were tried for plasma and amniotic fluid; it was finally decided that protein precipitation with acetonitrile was most suitable. Ultrafiltration was used for cerebrospinal fluid preparation while urine was treated the same as a standard mixture. The retention times relative to the internal standard (nor-leucine) are given for over 90 compounds. Some of these were chromatographed underivatized because they are known to be present in some physiological fluids and absorb at 254 nm because of their aromaticity. The imprecision for this method compared favourably with the standard ion-exchange method although each had specific amino acids for which the imprecision was poor. The technique is suitable for the same routine clinical analysis purposes as high-resolution ion-exchange chromatography. It also offers the advantages of speed of analysis, sensitivity and equipment versatility over the conventional ion-exchange methods.     

Comparison of the ion-exchange behaviour of zirconium, thorium, vanadium, uranium, stannic and titanium tungstates

Zirconium, thorium, uranium, vanadium, stannic and titanium tungstates have been prepared and their properties such as ion-exchange capacity, K(d) values of metal ions, chemical composition and stability have been compared. Titanium tungstate was found to be the most stable, and to have negligible capacity for tervalent cations.     

Analysis of mixtures of glycols by ion-exchange chromatography

Procedures and results of the anion-exchange separation of diethylene glycol, ethylene glycol, 1,2-propylene glycol, the meso and the dl isomers of 2,3-butylene glycol, and glycerol are reported. This separation allows the determination of each of the six compounds present in the mixture by oxidation with dichromate.