Effect of anionic ion-pairing reagent hydrophobicity on selectivity of peptide separations by reversed-phase liquid chromatography

Despite the continuing dominance of trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) as the anionic ion-pairing reagent of choice for peptide separations by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC), we believe that a step-by-step approach to re-examining the relative efficacy of TFA compared to other ion-pairing reagents is worthwhile, particularly for the design of separation protocols for complex peptide mixtures, e.g., in proteomics applications. Thus, we applied RP-HPLC in the presence of different concentrations of anionic ion-pairing reagents - phosphoric acid, TFA, pentafluoropropionic acid (PFPA) and heptafluorobutyric acid (HFBA)--to a mixture of three groups of four 10-residue peptides, these groups containing peptides of +1, +3 or +5 net charge. Overall separation of the 12-peptide mixture improved with increasing reagent hydrophobicity (phosphate- < TFA- < PFPA- < HFBA-) and/or concentration of the anion, with reagent hydrophobicity having a considerably more pronounced effect than reagent concentration. HFBA, in particular, achieved an excellent separation at a concentration of just 10 mM, whereby the peptides were separated by charged groups (+1 < +3 < +5) and hydrophobicity within these groups. There was an essentially equal effect of reagent hydrophobicity and concentration on each positive charge of the peptides, a useful observation for prediction of the effect of varying counterion concentration hydrophobicity and/or concentration during optimization of peptide purification protocols. Peak widths were greater for the more highly charged peptides, although these could be decreased significantly by raising the acid concentration; concomitantly, peptide resolution increased with increasing concentration of ion-pairing reagent.     

Context-dependent effects on the hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity of side-chains during reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography: Implications for prediction of peptide retention behaviour

The present study set out to investigate whether observed relative hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity values of positively charged side-chains (with Lys and Arg as representative side-chains) or hydrophobic side-chains (with Ile as the representative side-chain) were context-dependent, i.e., did such measured values vary depending on characteristics of the peptides within which such side-chains are substituted (overall peptide hydrophobicity, number of positive charges) and/or properties of the mobile phase (anionic counterions of varying hydrophobicity and concentration)? Reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) was applied to two series of four synthetic peptide analogues (+1, +2, +3 and +4 net charge), the only difference between the two peptide series being the substitution of one hydrophobic Ile residue for a Gly residue, in the presence of anionic ion-pairing reagents of varying hydrophobicity (HCOOH approximately H3PO4 < TFA < PFPA < HFBA) and concentration (2-50 mM). RP-HPLC of these peptide series revealed that the relative hydrophilicity of Lys and Arg side-chains in the peptides increased with peptide hydrophobicity. In addition the relative hydrophobicity of Ile decreased dramatically with an increase in the number of positive charges in the peptide, this hydrophobicity decrease being of greater magnitude as the hydrophobicity of the anionic ion-pairing reagent increased. These results have significant implications in the prediction of peptide retention times for proteomic applications.     

The perchlorate anion is more effective than the trifluoroacetate anion as an ion-pairing reagent for reversed-phase chromatography of peptides

The addition of salts, specifically sodium perchlorate (NaClO4), to mobile phases at acidic pH as ion-pairing reagents for reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) has been generally overlooked. To demonstrate the potential of NaClO4 as an effective anionic ion-pairing reagent, we applied RP-HPLC in the presence of 0-100 mM sodium chloride (NaCl), sodium trifluoroacetate (NaTFA) or NaClO4 to two mixtures of synthetic 18-residue peptides: a mixture of peptides with the same net positive charge (+4) and a mixture of four peptides of +1, +2, +3 and +4 net charge. Interestingly, the effect of increasing NaClO4 concentration on increasing peptide retention times and selectivity changes was more dramatic than that of either NaCl or NaTFA, with the order of increasing anion effectiveness being Cl- < TFA- < C104-. Such effects were more marked when salt addition was applied to eluents containing 10 mM phosphoric acid (H3PO4) compared to 10 mM trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) due to the lesser starting anion hydrophobicity of the former mobile phase (containing the phosphate ion) compared to the latter (containing the TFA- ion).     

The Use of Perfluorinated Carboxylic Acids in the Reversed-Phase HPLC of Peptides

Abstract

The relative effectiveness of trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), pentafluoropropanoic acid (PFPA), heptafluorobutyric acid (HFBA) and undecafluorocaproic acid (UFCA) as hydrophobic counter-ions in the reversedphase high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) of peptides was assessed. Four solvent systems were compared each containing 0.01M of a perfluorocarboxylic acid throughout. Twelve standard peptides and proteins were loaded onto the RP-HPLC column which was eluted with a linear gradient of 20-58.4% aqueous acetonitrile over 90 minutes. The retention times of the peptide standards were different in each solvent system. In progressing from TFA to PFPA, HFBA and UFCA all the peptides showed greater retention times. However, the effect was most marked with peptides having the greatest number of basic groups. By exploiting this behaviour a different type of chromatography can be introduced into the RP-HPLC purification of peptides. For instance, column fractions obtained from the use of the TFA solvent system can be re-chromatographed in a solvent system containing HFBA. It is possible by this procedure to purify naturally occurring peptides on the basis of their overall positive charges. At 0.01M each acid solution is sufficiently U.V. transparent to permit monitoring of column effluents at 210 nm. TFA, PFPA, HFBA and UFCA solvent systems are also completely volatile and this property facilitates the bioassay, radioimmunoassay and amino acid analysis of column fractions.     

Capillary electrophoresis of cationic random coil peptide standards: effect of anionic ion-pairing reagents and comparison with reversed-phase chromatography

The present study compares a charge/hydrophobicity capillary electrophoresis (CE) approach to reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) for the separation of three series of four synthetic, random coil peptide standards. Each series has peptides of the same positive charge (+1, +2 and +3 series) and length but differing in hydrophobicity. Complete resolution of the 12 peptides was achieved via a novel CE approach: a capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) mode effected a separation of identically charged peptides; within each charged group of peptides, the addition of perfluorinated acid anionic ion-pairing reagents allowed resolution of the peptides through a mechanism based on peptide hydrophobicity which we have termed ioninteraction (II)-CZE. The peak capacity and peptide resolution of this CE approach was superior to that of RP-HPLC and stresses an important role for CE for peptide/proteomic applications.     

Separation of Amadori peptides from their unmodified analogs by ion-pairing RP-HPLC with heptafluorobutyric acid as ion-pair reagent

Glycation is a common class of nonenzymatic posttranslational modifications relevant for several diseases and cell aging in general, such as D-glucose-derived modifications at the ɛ-amino groups of lysine residues in blood proteins, especially albumin, immunoglobulin, and hemoglobin, for diabetic patients. These Amadori compounds are identified on the peptide level after enzymatic digestion and chromatographic separation by mass spectrometry. Their syntheses usually rely on a global glycation approach. Both areas require the reliable separation of glycated peptides from their unmodified congeners present in different ratios, which is typically not achieved by standard eluent systems in ion-pairing RP-HPLC (IP-RPLC). Here, we compare aqueous acetonitrile and methanol gradients containing either trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) or heptafluorobutyric acid (HFBA) as ion-pairing agents to separate such peptide pairs. TFA-containing eluents resulted in rather low resolutions, and the glycated and unglycated peptides often coeluted. HFBA increased the retention times of the unmodified peptide more than for the glycated peptide thereby improving the separation of all eight studied peptide pairs, even achieving baseline separations for some sequences. Thus the use of HFBA as ion-pair reagent provides a universally applicable eluent system in IP-RPLC to separate glycated peptides from their unmodified counterparts, even at the preparative scale required for synthetic peptides.     

Optimum concentration of trifluoroacetic acid for reversed-phase liquid chromatography of peptides revisited

Trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) remains the dominant mobile phase additive for reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) of peptides after more than two decades since its introduction to this field. Generally, TFA has been employed in a concentration range of 0.05-0.1% (6.5-13 mM) for the majority of peptide separations. In order to revisit the question as to whether such a concentration range is optimum for separations of peptide mixtures containing peptides of varying net positive charge, the present study examined the effect of varying TFA concentration on RP-HPLC at 25 and 70 degrees C of three groups of synthetic 10-residue synthetic peptides containing either one (+1) or multiple (+3, +5) positively charged groups. The results show that the traditional range of TFA concentrations employed for peptide studies is not optimum for many, perhaps the majority, of peptide applications. For efficient resolution of peptide mixtures, particularly those containing peptides with multiple positive charges, our results show that 0.2-0.25% TFA in the mobile phase will achieve optimum resolution. In addition, the use of high temperature as a complement to such TFA concentration levels is also effective in maximizing peptide resolution.     

Ion-interaction CZE: the presence of high concentrations of ion-pairing reagents demonstrates the complex mechanisms involved in peptide separations

We have furthered our understanding of the separative mechanism of a novel CE approach, termed ion-interaction CZE (II-CZE), developed in our laboratory for the resolution of mixtures of cationic peptides. Thus, II-CZE and RP-HPLC were applied to the separation of peptides differing by a single amino acid substitution in 10- and 12-residue synthetic model peptide sequences. Substitutions differed by a wide range of properties or side-chain type (e.g., alkyl side-chains, polar side-chains, etc.) at the substitution site. When carried out in high concentrations (400 mM) of pentafluoropropionic acid (PFPA), II-CZE separated peptides in order of increasing hydrophobicity when the substituted side-chains were of a similar type; when II-CZE was applied to the mixtures of peptides with substitutions of side-chains that differed in the type of functional group, there was no longer a correlation of electrophoretic mobility in II-CZE with relative peptide hydrophobicity, suggesting that a third factor is involved in the separative mechanism beyond charge and hydrophobicity. Interestingly, the hydrophobic PFPA- anion is best for separating peptides that differ in hydrophobicity with hydrophobic side-chains but high concentrations of the hydrophilic H2PO4- anion are best when separating peptides that differ in polar side-chains relative to hydrophobic side-chains. We speculate that differential hydration/dehydration properties of various side-chains in the peptide and the hydration/dehydration properties of the hydrophilic/hydrophobic anions as well as the electrostatic attractions between the peptide and the anions in solution all play a critical role in these solution-based effects.     

Effect of cyclization of N-terminal glutamine and carbamidomethyl-cysteine (residues) on the chromatographic behavior of peptides in reversed-phase chromatography

N-terminal loss of ammonia is a typical peptide modification chemical artifact observed in bottom-up proteomics experiments. It occurs both in vivo for N-terminal glutamine and in vitro following enzymatic cleavage for both N-terminal glutamine and cysteine alkylated with iodoacetamide. In addition to a mass change of −17.03 Da, modified peptides exhibit increased chromatographic retention in reversed-phase (RP) HPLC systems. The magnitude of this increase varies significantly depending on the peptide sequence and the chromatographic condition used. We have monitored these changes for extensive sets (more than 200 each) of tryptic Gln and Cys N-terminated species. Peptides were separated on 100 Å pore size C18 phases using identical acetonitrile gradient slopes with 3 different eluent compositions: 0.1% trifluoroacetic acid; 0.1% formic acid and 20 mM ammonium formate at pH 10 as ion-pairing modifiers. The observed effect of this modification on RP retention is the product of increased intrinsic hydrophobicity of the modified N-terminal residue, lowering or removing the effect of ion-pairing formation on the hydrophobicity of adjacent residues at acidic pHs; and possibly the increased formation of amphipathic helical structures when the positive charge is removed. Larger retention shifts were observed for Cys terminated peptides compared to Gln, and for smaller peptides. Also the size of the retention increase depends on the eluent conditions: pH 10 ? trifluoroacetic acid < formic acid. Different approaches for incorporation these findings in the peptide retention prediction models are discussed.     

Application of perfluorinated acids as ion-pairing reagents for reversed-phase chromatography and retention-hydrophobicity relationships studies of selected β-blockers

The addition of the homologous series of perfluorinated acids-trifluoroacetic acid (TFAA), pentafluoropropionic acid (PFPA), heptafluorobutyric acid (HFBA) to mobile phases for reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) of β-blockers was tested. Acidic modifiers were responsible for acidification of mobile phase (pH 3) ensuring the protonation of the β-blockers and further ion pairs creation. The effect of the type and concentration of mobile phase additives on retention parameters, the efficiency of the peaks, their symmetry and separation selectivity of the β-blockers mixture were all studied. It appeared that at increasing acid concentration, the retention factor, for all compounds investigated, increased to varying degrees. It should be stressed that the presence of acids more significantly affected the retention of the most hydrophobic β-blockers. Differences in hydrophobicity of drugs can be maximized through variation of the hydrophobicity of additives. Thus, the relative increase in the retention depends on either concentration and hydrophobicity of the anionic mobile phase additive or hydrophobicity of analytes. According to QSRR (quantitative structure retention relationship) methodology, chromatographic lipophilicity parameters: isocratic log k and log k_w values (extrapolated retention to pure water) were correlated with the molecular (log P_o/w) and apparent (log P_app) octanol–water partition coefficients obtained experimentally by countercurrent chromatography (CCC) or predicted by Pallas software. The obtained, satisfactory retention-hydrophobicity correlations indicate that, in the case of the basic drugs examined in RP-HPLC systems modified with perfluorinated acids, the retention is mainly governed by their hydrophobicity.     

Defining intrinsic hydrophobicity of amino acids' side chains in random coil conformation. Reversed-phase liquid chromatography of designed synthetic peptides vs. random peptide data sets

The two leading RP-HPLC approaches for deriving hydrophobicity values of amino acids utilize either sets of designed synthetic peptides or extended random datasets often extracted from proteomics experiments. We find that the best examples of these two methods provide virtually identical results--with exception of Lys, Arg, and His. The intrinsic hydrophobicity values of the remaining residues as determined by Kovacs et al. (Biopolymers 84 (2006) 283) correlates with an R(2)-value of 0.995+ against amino acid retention coefficients from our Sequence Specific Retention Calculator model (Anal. Chem. 78 (2006) 7785). This novel finding lays the foundation for establishing consensus amino acids hydrophobicity scales as determined by RP-HPLC. Simultaneously, we find the assignment of hydrophobicity values for charged residues (Lys, Arg and His at pH 2) is ambiguous; their retention contribution is strongly affected by the overall peptide hydrophobicity. The unique behavior of the basic residues is related to the dualistic character of the RP peptide retention mechanism, where both hydrophobic and ion-pairing interactions are involved. We envision the introduction of "sliding" hydrophobicity scales for charged residues as a new element in peptide retention prediction models. We also show that when using a simple additive retention prediction model, the "correct" coefficient value optimization (0.98+ correlation against values determined by synthetic peptide approach) requires a training set of at least 100 randomly selected peptides.     

Selectivity differences in the separation of amphipathic alpha-helical peptides during reversed-phase liquid chromatography at pHs 2.0 and 7.0: effects of different packings, mobile phase conditions and temperature

In an ongoing effort to understand the effect of varying reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) parameters on the retention behaviour of peptides, necessary for the rational development of separation/optimization protocols, we believe it is important to delineate the contribution of alpha-helical structure to the selectivity of peptide separations. The present study reports the effects of varying column packing, mobile phase conditions and temperature on RP-HPLC retention behaviour at pHs 2.0 and 7.0 of peptides based on the amphipathic peptide sequence Ac-EAEKAAKEXEKAAKEAEK-amide (with position X in the centre of the hydrophobic face of the alpha-helix), where position X is substituted by L- or D-amino acids. At pH 2.0, an increase in trifluoroacetic acid concentration or the addition of sodium perchlorate to a phosphoric acid-based mobile phase had the similar effect of improving peak shape as well as increasing peptide retention time due to ion-pairing effects with the positively-charged peptides; in contrast, at pH 7.0, the addition of salt had little effect save an improvement in peak shape. Temperature was shown to have a complex influence on peptide selectivity due to varying effects on peptide conformation. In addition, subtle effects on peptide selectivity were also noted based on the column packings employed at pHs 2.0 and 7.0.     

The Use Of Soft Acid Metal Salts Of Carboxylic Acids For Retention Of Hydrophilic Peptides In Reversed-Phase High Performance Liquid Chromatography

Abstract

The effect of various soft acid cation acetate salts on the retention of the peptides Phe-(Gly)_n, where n=1–4, and on phenylalanine, indicates a correlation between the softness character of the cation of the acetate salt used in the mobile phase and retention in reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography. Inorganic soft acid cation salts did not exhibit the same increased retention properties. By using silver(I) valerate or silver(I) octanoate as ion-pairing reagents in the mobile phase for RP-HPLC, static retention of peptides was achieved.     

Comparison of retention behavior of oligolysine and oligoarginine in ion-pairing chromatography using heptafluorobutyric acid

This paper describes the retention behavior of oligolysine and oligoarginine peptides of different lengths as a function of heptafluorobutyric acid (HFBA) concentration in ion-pairing reversed-phase chromatography in isocratic elution. A mixture of oligolysine and a mixture of oligoarginine with number of amino acid residues (dp) from two to eight were conveniently prepared by one-pot protease-catalyzed synthesis. Analysis of the logarithm of the retention factor k as a function of [HFBA] for each oligopeptide component, using a closed pairing model, provided values for (1) number (n) of paired HFBA anions per peptide molecule, (2) equilibrium constant (K _ip,m) for ion pairing between oligopeptides and HFBA anions, and (3) product of the phase ratio and the distribution constant of the paired oligopeptide between the mobile and stationary phases (βK _d,ip). We found that βK _d,ip of oligoarginine is larger compared with oligolysine having the same dp. A linear relationship was obtained for ln βK _d,ip as a function of n?+?g?·?dp. By optimizing constant g separately for oligolysine and oligoarginine, we determined that g is larger for oligoarginine, in agreement with the higher hydrophobicity of arginine residues. Plotting the fraction of paired oligoarginine and oligolysine as a function of [HFBA] shows that the cooperative effect in forming ion pairs is greater for oligoarginine than oligolysine.

Impact of solvent conditions on separation and detection of basic drugs by micro liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry under overloading conditions

In this study the impact of solvent conditions on the performance of μLC/MS for the analysis of basic drugs was investigated. Our aim was to find experimental conditions that enable high-performance chromatographic separation particularly at overloading conditions paired with a minimal loss of mass spectrometric detection sensitivity. A focus was put on the evaluation of the usability of different kinds of acidic modifiers (acetic acid (HOAc), formic acid (FA), methansulfonic acid (CH₃SO₃H), trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), pentafluoropropionic acid (PFPA), and heptafluorobutyric acid (HFBA)). The test mixture consisted of eleven compounds (bunitrolol, caffeine, cocaine, codeine, diazepam, doxepin, haloperidol, 3,4-methylendioxyamphetamine, morphine, nicotine, and zolpidem). Best chromatographic performance was obtained with the perfluorinated acids. Particularly, 0.010–0.050% HFBA (v/v) was found to represent a good compromise in terms of chromatographic performance and mass spectrometric detection sensitivity. Compared to HOAc, on average a 50% reduction of the peak widths was observed. The use of HFBA was particularly advantageous for polar compounds such as nicotine; only with such a hydrophobic ion-pairing reagent chromatographic retention of nicotine was observed. Best mass spectrometric performance was obtained with HOAc and FA. Loss of detection sensitivity induced by HFBA, however, was moderate and ranged from 0 to 40%, which clearly demonstrates that improved chromatographic performance is able to compensate to a large extent the negative effect of reduced ionization efficiency on detection sensitivity. Applications of μLC/MS for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of clinical and forensic toxicological samples are presented.     

反相高效液相色谱法分离蛋白质的研究

采用反相高效液相色谱法考察了几种大孔硅胶烷基键合固定相在等度淋洗条件下进行蛋白质分离的色谱性能。研究了冲洗剂中有机溶剂异丙醇的浓度、离子对酸（ＴＦＡ）浓度对蛋白质保留时间的影响。探讨了蛋白质在ＲＰ－ＨＰＬＣ中的保留机理。结果表明,大孔硅胶（２０～３０ｎｍ）短链（Ｃ４和Ｃ８）烷基键合固定相适合蛋白质的分离。     

Operational variables in high-performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization mass spectrometry of peptides and proteins using poly(styrene-divinylbenzene) monoliths

Capillary reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) utilizing monolithic poly(styrene-divinylbenzene) columns was optimized for the coupling to electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) by the application of various temperatures and mobile phase additives during peptide and protein analysis. Peak widths at half height improved significantly upon increasing the temperature and ranged from 2.0 to 5.4 s for peptide and protein separations at 70 degrees. Selectivity of peptide elution was significantly modulated by temperature, whereas the effect on proteins was only minor. A comparison of 0.10% formic acid (FA), 0.050% trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), and 0.050% heptafluorobutyric acid (HFBA) as mobile phase additives revealed that highest chromatographic efficiency but poorest mass spectrometric detectabilities were achieved with HFBA. Clusters of HFBA, water, and acetonitrile were observed in the mass spectra at m/z values >500. Although the signal-to-noise ratios for the individual peptides diverged considerably both in the selected ion chromatograms and extracted mass spectra, the average mass spectrometric detectabilities varied only by a factor of less than 1.7 measured with the different additives. Limits of detection for peptides with 500 nl sample volumes injected onto a 60 mm x 0.20 mm monolithic column were in the 0.2-13 fmol range. In the analysis of hydrophobic membrane proteins, HFBA enabled highest separation selectivity at the cost of lower mass spectral quality. The use of 0.050% TFA as mobile phase additive turned out to be the best compromise between chromatographic and mass spectrometric performance in the analysis of peptides and proteins by RP-HPLC-ESI-MS using monolithic separation columns.     

Peptide mapping with mobile phases of intermediate pH value using capillary reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography/electrospray ionisation tandem mass spectrometry

This investigation describes the separation of tryptic peptides by capillary reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) with eluents in the intermediate pH range, followed by in-line electrospray ionisation tandem mass spectrometry (ESI-MS/MS) analysis. For these purposes, gradient elution procedures with an aqueous eluent containing 20 mM ammonium formate, and an increasing content of acetonitrile or methanol, were employed. Compared to the analysis of the same tryptic peptides under low-pH conditions with an ion-pairing reagent, the increase in the pH with the 20 mM ammonium formate mobile phase led to significant changes in both peptide retention to the reversed-phase column and the collision-induced dissociation at the MS/MS stage as a consequence of the changes in the physico-chemical properties of these peptides, such as their overall charge, polarity and relative hydrophobicity. Thus, improved selectivity for the peptide separation and favourable tandem mass spectrometry analysis could be obtained with eluents in this intermediate pH range. The number of tryptic peptides identified by the new approach for the proteins investigated were significantly higher than that obtained by the conventional low-pH methods. Moreover, analysis of protein digests at very low concentrations was also performed under both acidic and intermediate pH conditions and similar improvements in selectivity and MS/MS detection limits were observed, i.e. identification of more distinct peptides and higher sequence coverage of the protein was obtained when eluents of intermediate pH were employed. This study therefore highlights the potential of conducting peptide mapping in the intermediate pH range to achieve more reliable and sensitive protein identifications with capillary RP-HPLC–ESI-MS/MS.     

The Analysis of Insulin-Related Peptides by Reversed-Phase High-Performance Liquid Chromatography

Abstract

This paper describes the use of high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) for the rapid analysis and purification of insulin-related peptides prepared by solid-phase synthetic procedures. Examples include the bovine insulin C-peptide (34–45), the porcine insulin C-peptide (41–53) and the insulin B-chain fragment (22–27). Chromatographic elution systems containing reducing reagents like B-mercaptoethanol allow the direct analysis of insulin reduction products. Similar systems should allow the rapid analysis of disulphide bond pairing patterns in appropriate polypeptides and proteins either directly or following proteolytic digestion.

Reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) is a versatile and rapid technique useful for the analysis and purification of biological substances. In a series of recent publication^1–4 we have described methods for the analysis of underivatised amino acids, peptides and proteins on reversed-phase packings using ion-pairing or stationary phase modifying reagents as components of the mobile phase. These studies demonstrated that excellent resolution of closely related peptides can be achieved under a variety of elution conditions. The addition of low levels of phosphoric acid, inorganic or organic phosphates to a mobile phase (generally water-organic solvent mixtures), in particular, allows rapid and reproducible analysis of peptidic compounds with high sensitivity detection at wavelengths down to 190nm^5,6. It is the purpose of this report to show that these chromatographic conditions allow the facile analysis, and purification, of a variety of insulin-related peptides.     

Mixed-mode hydrophilic interaction/cation-exchange chromatography: separation of complex mixtures of peptides of varying charge and hydrophobicity

Mixed-mode hydrophilic interaction/cation-exchange chromatography (HILIC/CEX) was applied to the separation of two mixtures of synthetic peptide standards: (i) a 27-peptide mixture containing three groups of peptides (each group containing nine peptides of the same net charge of +1, +2 or +3), where the hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity of adjacent peptides within the groups varied only subtly (generally by only a single carbon atom); and (ii) peptide pairs with the same composition but different sequences, where the sole difference between the peptides was the position of a single amino acid substitution. HILIC/CEX is essentially CEX chromatography in the presence of high levels of organic modifier (generally ACN). The present study demonstrated the dramatic effect of increasing ACN concentration (optimum levels of 60-80%, depending on the application) on the separation of both mixtures of peptides. The greater the charge on the peptides, the better the separation achievable by HILIC/CEX. In addition, HILIC/CEX separation of both the peptide mixtures used in the present study was shown to be superior to that of the more commonly applied RP-HPLC mode. Our results highlight again the efficacy of HILIC/CEX as a peptide separation mode in its own right as well as an excellent complement to RP-HPLC.