Quantitation of chiral amino acids from microalgae by MEKC and LIF detection

In this work, chiral and nonchiral MEKC methods have been combined with LIF detection (MEKC-LIF) to identify and quantify a group of D- and L-amino acids (D/L-aa) in different microalgae samples. The combination of the nonchiral and chiral-MEKC-LIF methods made the identification of the microalgae amino acids easier, previously derivatized with FITC, providing a double proof on the correct detection of these analytes. Three microalgae species, Spirulina platensis, Dunaliella salina, and Tetraselmis suecica, were compared in terms of their content in D-Arg, L-Arg, D-Lys, L-Lys, D-Ala, L-Ala, D-Glu, L-Glu, D-Asp, and L-Asp. Also, a comparison between two Spirulina platensis samples dried under different conditions (i.e., hot air or lyophilized) was carried out in order to investigate the effect of the thermal processing on the amino acid content. Moreover, two procedures for the extraction of amino acids from microalgae (i.e., a classical procedure and pressurized liquid extraction (PLE)) together with different conditions for amino acid derivatization were studied in order to increase the sensitivity of the whole analytical method. By using the selected chiral-MEKC-LIF conditions (100 mM sodium tetraborate, 30 mM SDS, and 20 mM beta-CD at pH 9.7) the main microalgae D/L-aa are separated in less than 25 min with efficiencies up to 840 000 plates/m and good sensitivity (i.e., 330 ng of D-Arg per gram of microalga could be detected by this procedure for an S/N of 3). Several D-aa were detected in all the microalgae, observing interesting differences in their D/L-aa profiles, what corroborates the usefulness of the chiral-MEKC-LIF approach to characterize different microalgae species as well as different microalgae drying processes. Moreover, the use of PLE can selectively extract different free amino acids from microalgae.     

Application of stepwise discriminant analysis to classify commercial orange juices using chiral micellar electrokinetic chromatography-laser induced fluorescence data of amino acids

The use of chiral amino acids content and stepwise discriminant analysis to classify three types of commercial orange juices (i.e., nectars, orange juices reconstituted from concentrates, and pasteurized orange juices not from concentrates) is presented. Micellar electrokinetic chromatography with laser-induced fluorescence (MEKC-LIF) and beta-cyclodextrins are used to determine L- and D-amino acids previously derivatized with fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC). This chiral MEKC-LIF procedure is easy to implement and provides information about the main amino acids content in orange juices (i.e., L-proline; L-aspartic acid, D-Asp, L-serine, L-asparagine, L-glutamic acid, D-Glu, L-alanine, L-.arginine, D-Arg, and the non-chiral gamma-amino-n-butyric acid (GABA), i.e., gamma-aminobutyric acid). From these results, it is clearly demonstrated that some D-amino acids occur naturally in orange juices. Application of stepwise discriminant analysis to 26 standard samples showed that the amino acids L-Arg, L-Asp and GABA were the most important variables to differentiate the three groups of samples. With these three selected amino acids a 100% correct classification of the samples was obtained either by standard or by leave-one-out cross-validation procedures. These classification functions based on the content in L-Arg, L-Asp and GABA were also applied to nine test samples and provided an adequate classification and/or interesting information on these samples. It is concluded that chiral MEKC-LIF analysis of amino acids and stepwise discriminant analysis can be used as a consistent procedure to classify commercial orange juices providing useful information about their quality and processing. To our knowledge, this is the first report about the combined use of chiral capillary electrophoresis and discriminant techniques to classify foods.     

Separation of dansylated amino acid enantiomers by chiral ligand-exchange CE with a zinc(II) L-arginine complex as the selecting system

A facile chiral ligand-exchange capillary electrophoretic method has been explored for the enantioseparation and UV detection of dansyl-amino acids with Zn(II) L-arginine complex as a chiral selecting system. Successful enantioseparation of 17 pairs of amino acid enantiomers has been achieved with a buffer of 100 mM boric acid, 5 mM ammonium acetate, 3 mM ZnSO4 and 6 mM L-Arg at pH 8.0, of which 10 pairs were fully resolved with resolution in between 1.59 and 4.21. This new method was shown to be applicable to the separation of some mixed pairs of amino acids and to the quantitative analysis of some real samples such as rice vinegars, with a linear range between 0.8 and 150 microg/mL, correlation coefficient above 0.99 and recovery in between 90.1 and 112.4%. It was found that amino acids with low resistance side chain(s), low tendency to form intramolecular hydrogen bond or high tendency to form intermolecular hydrogen bonds are more easily enantioseparated than those with extra carboxyl and/or phenyl groups. By the use of the suggested buffer, the running pH should be selected at 7.4-9.0 to compromise the resolution and elution speed.     

Methodology for predicting the separation of proteins by hydrophobic interaction chromatography and its application to a cell extract

Ligand-exchange micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography was used for the chiral resolution of underivatized and dansyl amino acid enantiomers simultaneously. The separation was achieved by chiral copper(II)-L-valine complexes incorporated in micelles of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS). The enantioresolution was strongly affected by SDS and a concentration of 20 mM SDS was shown to be necessary for the separation. Other impacting factors were investigated including pH, the molar ratio of copper(II) to L-valine and the total concentration of complex. Using the proposed method, 11 different dansyl amino acids and two underivatized amino acids were separated successfully with a running electrolyte of 20 mM NH4OAc, 4 mM CuSO4, 8 mM L-valine and 20 mM SDS at pH 9.0 in less than 25 min. Experiments were also performed with other amino acid ligands in order to vary the stability and the sterical arrangement of the copper(II) complexes and the possible chiral recognition mechanism was also discussed briefly.     

Determination of amino acids and catecholamines derivatized with 3-(4-chlorobenzoyl)-2-quinolinecarboxaldehyde in PC12 and HEK293 cells by capillary electrophoresis with laser-induced fluorescence detection

An effective micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography with laser-induced fluorescence detection (MEKC-LIF) method has been proposed for the separation and the determination of 16 amino acids and two catecholamines using a new fluorogenic reagent, 3-(4-chlorobenzoyl)-2-quinolinecarboxaldehyde (Cl-BQCA), as the derivatizing reagent. The highest derivatization efficiency was achieved in pH 8.0 borate buffer at 50 °C for 50 min. The optimal separation of Cl-BQCA-labeled amines was obtained with a running buffer (pH 9.15) containing 120 mM boric acid, 38.5 mM sodium dodecyl sulfate, and 17% acetonitrile. The detection limit (S/N = 3) was found to be as low as 1.4 nM. The present method has been successfully used to detect amino acids and catecholamines in HEK293 and PC12 cell samples. This study explores the potential of MEKC-LIF with Cl-BQCA labeling as a tool for monitoring amino acids and catecholamines during the complex physiological and behavioral processes in various matrices.     

Chiral separation of amino acids derivatized with fluoresceine-5isothiocyanate by capillary electrophoresis and laser-induced fluorescence detection using mixed selectors of beta-cyclodextrin and sodium taurocholate

Chiral separation of 20 pairs of amino acids derivatized with fluoresceine-5-isothiocyanate (FITC) by capillary electrophoresis and laser-induced fluorescence detection was studied using the mixture of beta-cyclodextrin (beta-CD) and sodium taurocholate (STC) as selector. Resolution was considerably superior to that obtained by using either beta-CD or STC alone. The molar ratio of beta-CD to STC of about 2:3 was found to be critical to achieve maximum separation. At this beta-CD-to-STC ratio, chiral separation occurred at really low total concentration of beta-CD and STC (<0.1 mM). Other impacting factors were investigated including the total concentration of beta-CD and STC, pH, and capillary conditioning procedure between two successive runs. Using a running buffer of 80 mM borate containing 20 mM beta-CD and 30 mM STC at pH 9.3, all of the 20 pairs of FITC-amino acid enantiomers were baseline resolved. The resolutions of the most pairs of the amino acid enantiomers (17 of 20) were higher than 3.0, only three pairs gave a resolution lower than 3.0 but higher than 1.90 (beta-phenylserine, pSer). The highest resolution reached 14.58 (Glu). Two derivatives of beta-CD, 2-hydroxypropyl-beta-CD (HP-beta-CD) and heptakis(2,6-di-O-methyl)-beta-CD (DM-beta-CD) were also explored. HP-beta-CD showed similar cooperative effect with STC, while DM-beta-CD together with STC led to poorer chiral separation.     

Synthesis and application of dehydroabietylisothiocyante as a new chiral derivatizing agent for the enantiomeric separation of chiral compounds by capillary electrophoretic

A new chiral derivatizing reagent, dehydroabietylisothiocyante (DHAIC), was synthesized and used for the enantiomeric separation of chiral compounds in capillary electrophoresis (CE). The synthetic route to obtain DHAIC is described. The separation conditions for the chiral separation of several chiral compounds, such as protein amino acids and chiral drug DOPA were optimized. Best results for the chiral separation of DHAIC derivatized amino acids and DOPA were obtained in a running buffer consisted of 50 mM borate (pH 9.5), 5 mM sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) and 20% acetonitrile for amino acids and 60 mM Na₂HPO₄ (pH 8.0), 17 mM SDS and 25% acetonitrile for DOPA. Under the conditions studied, chiral separation of five amino acids including Ser, Val, Ala, Thr, Cys and a chiral drug DOPA as their diastereomeric DHAIC derivatives has been achieved by micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC).     

Chiral separation of NBD-amino acids by ligand-exchange micro-channel electrophoresis.

The chiral separation of amino acid derivatives by ligand-exchange electrophoresis in a microchannel chip was performed for the first time. A Cu(II) complex with L-prolinamide was used as a chiral selector. The migration behaviors of eleven NBD-DL-amino acids were investigated by ligand-exchange capillary electrophoresis (LE-CE). The enantiomer of five NBD-amino acids (Ser, Thr, Val, Phe and His) could be separated by LE-CE using a 20 mM ammonium acetate buffer (pH 9.0) containing 10 mM copper acetate, 20 mM L-prolinamide and 1 mM SDS. NBD-His was eluted in the order D-form and L-form, while the elution order of another enantiomers was L-form and D-form. Under this condition, the enantioseparation of these five NBD-amino acids by ligand-exchange microchip electrophoresis (LE-ME) was investigated using a glass microchip. The enantioseparation of NBD-Ser, -Thr and -His could be successfully accomplished by LE-ME. LE-ME was superior to LE-CE in terms of the short migration time and a good enantiomeric separation.     

Simultaneous analysis of underivatized chiral amino acids by liquid chromatography-ionspray tandem mass spectrometry using a teicoplanin chiral stationary phase

Simultaneous chiral separations of underivatized amino acids have been performed using a teicoplanin-based chiral stationary phase and ionspray tandem mass spectrometry for their ionisation and detection. Different amino acid enantiomer pairs were separated simultaneously, including those of positional isomeric amino acids (e.g., L,D-Leu/Ile, or L,D-Val/Iva). Due to the specificity of tandem mass spectrometry, co-eluting enantiomers of different amino acids could also be determined. Fifteen chiral underivatized proteinogenic and non-proteinogenic amino acids were analysed simultaneously under isocratic conditions (acetonitrile-water, 75:25) in less than 25 min. For maximum sensitivity, post-column addition of 500 mM aqueous HCOOH was necessary. Detection limits varied from 2.5 to 50 microg l(-1) depending on the amino acid. The signal vs. concentration relationship was linear for all D- and L-amino acids (0.9995 < or = r2 < or = 1) for three orders of magnitude.     

Non-aqueous capillary electrophoretic enantioseparation of N-derivatized amino acids using cinchona alkaloids and derivatives as chiral counter-ions

A non-aqueous capillary electrophoretic method developed with quinine and tert.-butyl carbamoylated quinine as chiral selectors for the enantioseparation of N-protected amino acids was applied to the investigation of other quinine derivatives as chiral additives. The optimum composition of the background electrolyte was found to be 12.5 mM ammonia, 100 mM octanoic acid and 10 mM chiral selector in an ethanol-methanol (60:40, v/v) mixture. Under these conditions, a series of chiral acids, as various benzoyl, 3,5-dinitrobenzoyl and 3,5-dinitrobenzyloxycarbonyl amino acid derivatives were investigated with regards to selectand-selector relationships and enantioselectivity employing quinine, quinidine, cinchonine, cinchonidine, tert.-butyl carbamoylated quinine, tert.-butyl carbamoylated quinidine, dinitrophenyl carbamoylated quinine and cyclohexyl carbamoylated quinine as chiral selector.     

Enantioseparation of dansyl amino acids by ligand‐exchange capillary electrophoresis with zinc(II)‐L‐phenylalaninamide complex

A novel method of chiral ligand‐exchange CE was developed with L ‐amino acylamides as a chiral ligand and zinc(II) as a central ion. It has been demonstrated that these chiral complexes, such as Zn(II)‐L ‐alaninamide, Zn(II)‐L ‐prolinamide, and Zn(II)‐L ‐phenylalaninamide, are suitable for use as chiral selectors for the enantioseparation of either individual pair of or mixed dansyl amino acids. The optimal separation running buffer consisted of 5 mM ammonium acetate, 100 mM boric acid, 4 mM ZnSO₄·7 H₂O, and 8 mM L ‐amino acylamides at pH 8.2. The experiments showed that apart from the effect of the concentration of the complexes on the resolution and the migration time, the buffer pH also had a sharp influence on resolution. The employed chiral ligands exhibited different enantioselectivities and enantiomer migration orders. D ‐Amino acids migrate faster than L ‐amino acids when Zn(II)‐L ‐alaninamide and Zn(II)‐L ‐phenylalaninamide are used as chiral selectors, but it was observed that the migration order is reversed when Zn(II)‐L ‐prolinamide is used as the chiral selector. Furthermore, the amount of dansylated amino acids is found to be highly dependent on the labeling temperature.     

Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis of amino acid enantiomers as methyl chloroformate derivatives: application to space analysis

This work describes a GC-MS method for enantioselective separation of amino acids. The method is based on a derivatization reaction which employs a mixture of alkyl chloroformate-alcohol-pyridine, as reagents to obtain the N(O,S)-alkyl alkoxy carbonyl esters of amino acids. Various reaction parameters are investigated and optimized to achieve a reproducible derivatization procedure suitable for separation of amino acid enantiomers on Chirasil-L-Val chiral stationary phase. In particular, the following topics are investigated for 20 proteinogenic amino acids: (i) the proper reagent and reaction conditions to obtain the highest derivative yield; (ii) the amino acid reactivity and the MS properties of the obtained derivatives; (iii) the linearity and sensitivity of the analytical method; (iv) the retention behavior of the derivatives and their enantiomeric separation on the Chirasil-L-Val chiral stationary phase. By combining the resolution power of the Chirasil-L-Val column and the high selectivity of the SIM MS detection mode, the described procedure enables the enantiomeric separation and quantification of 16 enantiomeric pairs of amino acids. The procedure is simple and fast and reproducible. It displays a wide linearity range at ppb detection limits for quantitative determinations: these properties make this derivatization method a suitable candidate for amino acid GC-MS analysis on board of the spacecrafts in space exploration missions of solar system body environments.     

Assay of aromatic amino acid enantiomers in rice-brewed suspensions by chiral ligand-exchange CE

The aim of this work was to assay seasoning D- or L-aromatic amino acids (AAs) in rice-brewed suspensions, Laozao in Chinese, by chiral ligand-exchange CE with UV detection and Zn(II) complex as a chiral selecting system. Resolution and peak retention were found to be parallel to the basicity of the AA chiral ligands, and basic L-Arg was known to work the best at pH 8.20 compared with L-Lys and other AA ligands. Baseline separation of DL-aromatic AAs and partially separation of some FMOC-labeled nonaromatic AAs have been achieved using a running buffer of 5 mM ammonium acetate, 100 mM boric acid, 3 mM ZnSO(4), and 6 mM L-Arg at pH 8.20. The aromatic amino acids in four brands of Laozao were measured in a range of 0.25-20 microg/mL for Typ, 1.00-120 microg/mL for Phe, and 2.50-200 microg/mL for Tyr, with linear regression coefficient all over 0.999. The LOD (S/N=3) was 0.15 microg/mL for Typ, 0.50 microg/mL for Phe, and 1.25 microg/mL for Tyr. The recovery of the method determined by spiking with the supernates of Laozao as background was 94.0-112.9%. The RSDs of migration time and peak area measured from six injections of tyrosine were 0.2 and 2.7%, respectively, for run-to-run, and 1.6 and 3.2%, respectively for day-to-day. Interestingly, there were only L-Trp, D-Tyr, and L-Tyr found in the assayed four brands of Laozao. They may serve as an index to recognize the brand of Laozao.     

Enantioseparation of anionic analytes by non-aqueous capillary electrophoresis using quinine and quinidine derivatives as chiral counter-ions

A non-aqueous capillary electrophoretic method developed for the enantioseparation of N-protected amino acids has been applied to the investigation of five new quinine and quinidine derivatives as chiral selectors: 1-adamantyl carbamoylated quinine, 3,4-dichlorophenyl carbamoylated quinidine, allyl carbamoylated dihydroquinine, allyl carbamoylated dihydroquinidine and 1-methyl quininium iodide. The composition of the background electrolyte was 12.5 mM ammonia, 100 mM octanoic acid in an ethanol-methanol (60:40 v/v) mixture containing a 10 mM concentration of the chiral selector. Under these conditions, the enantioseparation of a series of various benzoyl, 3,5-dinitrobenzoyl and 3,5-dinitrobenzyloxycarbonyl amino acid derivatives was studied with respect to selectand-selector relationship and enantioselectivity.     

Identification and quantification of the main organic components of vinegars by high resolution 1H NMR spectroscopy

A detailed analysis of the proton high-field NMR spectra of vinegars (in particular of Italian balsamic vinegars) is reported. A large number of organic substances belonging to different classes, such as carbohydrates, alcohols, organic acids, volatile compounds and amino acids, were assigned. The possibility of quantification of the substances identified in the whole vinegar sample, without extraction or pre-concentration steps, was also tested. The data validity was demonstrated in terms of precision, accuracy, repeatability and inter-day reproducibility. The effects of the most critical experimental parameters (sample concentration, water suppression and relaxation time) on the analysis response were also discussed. ¹H NMR results were compared with those obtained by traditional techniques (GC-MS, titrations), and good correlations were obtained. The results showed that ¹H NMR with water suppression allows a rapid, simultaneous determination of carbohydrates (glucose and fructose), organic acids (acetic, formic, lactic, malic, citric, succinic and tartaric acids), alcohols and polyols (ethanol, acetoin, 2,3-butanediol, hydroxymethylfurfural), and volatile substances (ethyl acetate) in vinegar samples. On the contrary, the amino acid determination without sample pre-concentration was critical. The ¹H NMR method proposed was applied to different samples of vinegars, allowing, in particular, the discrimination of vinegars and balsamic vinegars.     

Chiral separation with ligand-exchange micellar electrokinetic chromatography using a D-penicillamine-copper(II) ternary complex as chiral selector

D-Penicillamine is demonstrated for the first time as a chiral ligand for the enantioseparation of dansyl amino acids based on ligand-exchange micellar electrokinetic chromatography (LE-MEKC). Copper(II) was used as the central ion in the ternary complex. The effect of surfactant on the resolution was significant. A concentration of 20 mM sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) was shown to be necessary for the separation. Other important parameters, such as the concentration ratio of D-penicillamine (D-PEN) to Cu2+, the kind of metal central ion, the type and pH value of buffer, were also investigated. N-Acetyl-D-penicillamine and L-valine (Val), with similar structure to D-penicillamine, were applied as their copper(II) complexes as chiral selector and the chiral recognition mechanism is briefly discussed. Under optimum experimental conditions, i.e., 20 mM NH4OAc, pH 6.5, a 2:1 concentration ratio of D-penicillamine to Cu(II), 4 mM CuSO4 and 8 mM D-penicillamine, the chiral separation of eight pairs of different dansyl amino acid enantiomers was accomplished with resolution ranging from 1.1 to 5.9. When L-PEN was used instead of D-PEN, reversal of the migration order was observed.     

Sodium maleopimaric acid as pseudostationary phase for chiral separations of amino acid derivatives by capillary micellar electrokinetic chromatography

A new type of chiral surfactant, sodium maleopimaric acid (SMA), was synthesized, and employed for the enantioselective micellar electrokinetic chromatographic (MEKC) separation of amino acid enantiomers derivatized with naphthalene-2,3-dicarboxaldehyde (NDA-D/L-AAs). The effect of the surfactant concentration, type and concentration of the BGE, and buffer pH on the resolution was studied, and optimized conditions were used to evaluate the ability of this new surfactant to perform chiral separations toward NDA-D/L-AAs by MEKC. Enantiomeric separations of NDA-D/L-AAs were achieved with a running buffer consisting of 100 mM borate (pH 9.5) and 20 mM SMA in a 58.5 cm length x 50 microm id capillary. Under the conditions selected, two pairs of tested amino acid enantiomers including NDA-D/L-trptophan (Trp) and NDA-D/L-kynurenine (Kyn) were resolved.     

Electrochromatographic enantioseparation using chiral ligand exchange monolithic sol-gel column

This paper describes the development of a monolithic sol-gel column modified with l-hydroxyproline as a ligand exchange chiral stationary phase. It has been demonstrated that the monolithic chiral stationary phase can be used for the enantioseparation of dansyl amino acids, free amino acids, hydroxy acids, and dipeptides by capillary electrochromatography and micro-liquid chromatography. The recommended mobile phase was acetonitrile/0.50 mM Cu(Ac)₂-50 mM NH₄Ac (7:3) adjusted to pH 6.5. The characteristics of the monolithic column using hydroxyproline as chiral selector in CEC have been discussed.     

Enantiomeric Separation of Non-Protein Amino Acids by Chiral Ligand-Exchange High-Performance Liquid Chromatography

Abstract

The enantiomeric separation by high-performance liquid chromatography of underivatized non-protein amino acids was investigated by using a column packed with octadecylsilanized silica coated with N,S-dioctyl-D-penicillamine as a chiral ligand-exchange phase (Sumichiral OA-5000). Excellent to good separations of enantiomers were achieved with a variety of nonprotein amino acids carrying aliphatic or aromatic side-chains by optimizing the amount (0-20%, v/v) of the organic component (2-propanol) and the concentration (1-5 mM) of the complexing metal ion (Cu²⁺) in the hydro-organic eluent.