Cyclodextrin-modified monolithic columns for resolving dansyl amino acid enantiomers and positional isomers by capillary electrochromatography

We describe beta- and gamma-cyclodextrins (beta- and gamma-CD)-modified monolithic columns prepared by sol-gel process and chemical modifications. The monolithic silica column was fabricated inside a fused-silica capillary with 100 microm inner diameter by sol-gel process. The monolithic silica matrix was chemically modified chiral selectors of beta- or gamma-CDs with a spacer of 3-glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane by on-column reactions. Gamma-CD-modified monolithic column has successfully been applied for the separation of dansyl amino acid enantiomers. Beta-CD-modified monolithic column has been used for the separation of the positional isomers of o-, m-, and p-cresols and the enantioseparation of racemates of benzoin and several dansyl amino acids by capillary electrochromatography, respectively. For the separation of neutral positional isomers, a positive electric field was applied. However, for the separation of negatively charged analytes, a negative electric field was applied at the inlet of column. The separation efficiency of 5.0 x 10(4) theoretical plates/m for dansyl-L-threonine was obtained at electric field strength of -300 V/cm in the mobile phase of 50 mM 2-(N-morpholino)ethanesulfonic acid (MES)-Tris/methanol (70/30) buffer at pH 7.0. L-enantiomers were eluted as the first peak. Scanning electron micrograph showed that monolithic columns have the morphology of continuous skeleton and large through-pores.     

Separation of antipsychotic drugs (clozapine, loxapine) and their metabolites by capillary zone electrophoresis.

Two antipsychotic drugs (clozapine and loxapine) and six metabolites, N-demethylclozapine, clozapine N-oxide, N-demethylloxapine (amoxapine), 7-hydroxyloxapine, 8-hydroxyloxapine, 8-hydroxyamoxapine, were separated by capillary zone electrophoresis. Variation of pH and ionic strength of the acidic phosphate buffer (pH below 4) did not enable the separation of loxapine and one of its metabolites. Resolution of the single parent drugs and their metabolites was possible in background electrolytes (phosphate, pH 3.5, 60 mmol/l) containing either 0.2% (w/v) polyvinylpyrrolidone as replaceable pseudo-stationary phase, or 0.75 mmol/l beta-cyclodextrin added as complex-forming agent. Full separation of the mixture with baseline resolution of all analytes was obtained with a background electrolyte with heptakis-6-sulfato-beta-cyclodextrin added as negatively charged complexation agent with improved separation selectivity.     

Enantiomer separation by nonaqueous and aqueous capillary electrochromatography on cyclodextrin stationary phases

Native beta- and gamma-cyclodextrin bound to silica (ChiraDex-beta and ChiraDex-gamma) were packed into capillaries and used for enantiomer separation by capillary electrochromatography (CEC) under aqueous and nonaqueous conditions. Negatively charged analytes (dansyl-amino acids) were resolved into their enantiomers by nonaqueous CEC (NA-CEC). The addition of a small amount of water to the nonaqueous mobile phase enhanced the enantioselectivity but increased the elution time. The choice of the background electrolyte (BGE) determined the direction of the electroosmotic flow (EOF). With 2-(N-morpholino) ethanesulfonic acid (MES) or triethylammonium acetate (TEAA) as BGE an inverse EOF (anodic EOF) was observed while with phosphate a cathodic EOF was found. The apparent pH (pH*), the concentration of the BGE, and the nature of the mobile phase strongly influenced the elution time, the theoretical plate number and the chiral separation factor of racemic analytes.     

Enantiomeric separations of cationic and neutral compounds by capillary electrochromatography with monolithic chiral stationary phases of beta-cyclodextrin-bonded negatively charged polyacrylamide gels

Enantiomeric separation by capillary electrochromatography with beta-cyclodextrin-bonded negatively charged polyacrylamide gels was examined. The columns used are capillaries filled with a negatively charged polyacrylamide gel, a so-called monolithic stationary phase, to which allyl carbamoylated beta-CD (AC-beta-CD) derivatives covalently bind. The capillary wall is activated first with a bifunctional reagent to make the resulting gel bind covalently to the inner surface of the fused-silica tubing. Enantiomeric separations of 15 cationic compounds were achieved using the above-mentioned columns and mobile phases of 200 mmol l(-1) Tris-300 mmol I(-1) boric acid buffer (pH 7.0 or 9.0) or 200 mmol l(-1) Tris-300 mmol l(-1) boric acid buffer (pH 7.0) containing an achiral crown ether (18-crown-6). Enantiomeric separations of two neutral compounds were also achieved using 200 mmol l(-1) Tris-300 mmol l(-1) boric acid buffer (pH 9.0) as a mobile phase. High efficiencies of up to 150,000 plates m(-1) were obtained. Both the within- and between-run reproducibilities of retention time and separation factor were good. The reproducibilities of retention time and separation factor for three different columns prepared from a different batch of monomers were acceptable. The gel-filled capillaries were stable for at least 3 months with intermittent use, utilizing the mobile phase of 200 mmol I(-1) Tris-300 mmol I(-1) boric acid buffer (pH 9.0).     

Development and evaluation of new zwitterionic hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography stationary phases based on 3-P,P-diphenylphosphonium-propylsulfonate

New zwitterionic stationary phases were synthesized by covalently bonding 3-P,P-diphenylphosphonium-propylsulfonate to silica gel. The resulting materials possess both a negatively charged sulfonate group and a positively charged quaternary phosphonium group, which means that there is no net charge over a wide pH range. The retention mechanism and chromatographic behavior of polar solutes under HILIC conditions were studied on these zwitterionic phases. Compared to the commercial ZIC-HILIC column and a bare silica gel stationary phase, the newly synthesized zwitterionic stationary phases provided greater retention, higher peak efficiency and better peak symmetry in the HILIC mode. The analytes examined included: β-blockers, nucleic acid bases and nucleosides, salicylic acid and its analogues, and water soluble vitamins. Factors, such as the type of organic modifiers, solvent composition, pH and the buffer concentration of the mobile phase, have been considered as potential variables for controlling the chromatographic retention of polar analytes.     

Investigation of the novel mixed-mode stationary phase for capillary electrochromatography. II. Separation of amino acids and peptides on sulfonated naphthalimido-modified silyl silica gel

The potential of 3-(4-sulfo-1,8-naphthalimido)propyl-modified silyl silica gel (SNAIP) as a mixed-mode stationary phase for capillary electrochromatography (CEC) was investigated for the separation of charged analytes, taking four amino acids (tyrosine, phenylalanine, tryptophan, histidine) as model analytes. The elution process of these charged analytes in CEC with SNAIP was dominated by a combination of both electrophoretic process and chromatographic process involving hydrophobic as well as electrostatic interactions. In order to study the retention mechanism, the CEC retention factor k* and the velocity factor ke* were measured for the amino acids, which allowed the assessment of the respective contribution from the differential processes underlying the separation. Migration and retention could be mediated by changing various mobile phase compositions, including buffer pH, buffer concentration, and concentration of organic solvent. Based on the results obtained by separation of the amino acids, the separation of eight peptides (Gly-Val, Gly-Phe, Gly-Ile, Gly-His, Gly-Lys, Lys-Lys, Gly-Gly-Gly, Gly-Gly-His) was attempted. A good separation was achieved under an isocratic elution with a mobile phase consisting of 35 mM phosphate buffer (pH 3.8) and 40% methanol.     

Enantiomeric separation of acidic compounds of pharmaceutical interest by capillary electrochromatography employing glycopeptide antibiotic stationary phases

Enantiomeric separation of some selected acidic compounds of pharmaceutical interest belonging to the group of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs were separated by capillary electrochromatography employing silica based glycopeptide antibiotic stationary phases, namely vancomycin or a teicoplanin derivatives (Hepta-Tyr). The vancomycin stationary phase allowed to achieve the chiral resolution of some racemic studied compounds only using mobile phases containing ammonium formate at a relatively low pH 2.5-3.5 and acetonitrile. Employing the teicoplanin derivative stationary phase, good enantiomeric resolution was achieved eluting with mobile phases containing sodium phosphate pH 6-acetonitrile. Enantiomers were moved to the detector because a relatively high reversed electroosmotic flow (due to the positive charge of the stationary phase) and to the electrophoretic mobility of analytes.     

Open-tubular capillary electrochromatography using a capillary coated with octadecylamine-capped gold nanoparticles

Octadecylamine-capped gold nanoparticles (ODA-Au-NPs) were prepared and characterized by using UV-Vis adsorption spectrum, transmission electron chromatography (TEM), SEM, and FT-IR. A simple but robust hydrophobic coating was easily developed by flushing a capillary with a solution of ODA-Au-NPs, because the positive charges were carried by the nanoparticles which strongly adsorb to the negatively charged inner surface of a fused-silica capillary via electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions. The chromatographic characteristics of the coated capillary was investigated by varying the experimental parameters such as buffer pH, buffer concentration, and percentage of organic modifier in the mobile phase. The results show that (i) resolution between thiourea and naphthalene is almost the same when comparing the electrochromatograms obtained using pH 7 buffer as mobile phase after and before the capillary column was operated using pH 11 and 3 mobile phase; (ii) no significant changes in retention time and deterioration in peak efficiency were found after 60 runs of test aromatic mixtures; and (iii) column efficiency up to 189 000 theoretical plates/meter for testosterone was obtained. All of the results indicated that the coating could act as a stable stationary phase for open tubular CEC as well as for bioanalysis.     

Reversed-phase capillary electrochromatography for the simultaneous determination of acetylsalicylic acid, paracetamol, and caffeine in analgesic tablets

The separation and simultaneous determination of caffeine, paracetamol, and acetylsalicylic acid in two analgesic tablet formulations was investigated by capillary electrochromatography (CEC). The effect of mobile phase composition on the separation and peak efficiency of the three analytes was studied and evaluated; in particular, the influence of buffer type, buffer pH, and acetonitrile content of the mobile phase was investigated. The analyses were carried out under optimized separation conditions, using a full-packed silica capillary (75 microm ID; 30.0 cm and 21.5 cm total and effective lengths, respectively) with a 5 microm C8 stationary phase. A mixture of 25 mM ammonium formate at pH 3.0 and acetonitrile (30:70 v/v) was used as the mobile phase. UV detection was at 210 nm. Good linearity was found in the range of 50-200, 20-160, and 4-20 microg/mL for acetylsalicylic acid (r2=0.9988), paracetamol (r2=0.9990) and caffeine (r2=0.9990), respectively. Intermediate precision (RSD interday) as low as 0.1-0.8% was found for retention times, while the RSD values for the peak area ratios (Aanalyte/AIS) were in the range of 1.9-2.9%. The optimized CEC method was applied to the analysis of the studied compounds present in commercial tablets.     

Separation of atropisomers of anti-hepatitis drug dimethyl diphenyl bicarboxylate analogues by capillary electrophoresis with vancomycin as the chiral selector

Separation of atropisomers of analogues of the anti-hepatitis drug dimethyl diphenyl bicarboxylate (DDB) by capillary electrophoresis with vancomycin as the chiral selector is described. Among several tested chiral selectors, including various cyclodextrin derivatives as well as vancomycin, only the latter displayed the enantioselectivity to the studied atropisomers. However, relatively poor separation efficiency was obtained due to the adsorption of vancomycin on the capillary wall. This problem was overcome by modifying the capillary wall with a polycationic electrolyte named hexadimethrine bromide (HDB) to produce a positively charged coating, which minimized the adsorption of vancomycin on the capillary wall by electrostatic repulsion. Moreover, the positively charged coating could shorten the separation time by reversing the EOF because the reversed EOF migrated to the same direction as the negatively charged analyte. Effects of buffer pH, vancomycin and buffer concentrations and applied voltage on the separation were investigated and the optimal conditions were established as follows: 40 mM Tris-phosphate buffer (pH 6.0) containing 6.0 mM vancomycin and 0.001% HDB. Baseline separation of three racemic DDB analogues was obtained within 12 min under the optimal conditions.     

Fast enantiomeric separation with vancomycin as chiral additive by co-electroosmotic flow capillary electrophoresis: increase of the detection sensitivity by the partial filling technique

A fast and sensitive method is described by using vancomycin as a chiral additive for enantiomeric separation by capillary electrophoresis (CE). In order to overcome disadvantages associated with use of vancomycin as chiral additive in CE, several strategies including the dynamic coating technique, the co-electroosmotic flow technique, and the partial filling technique were employed sequentially in this method. Using the polycationic polymer hexadimethrine bromide (HDB) as a buffer additive, the capillary wall was dynamically coated with a thin film formed by the adsorbed HDB. Consequently, the adsorption of vancomycin onto the capillary wall was minimized via electrostatic repulsion between the coating of the capillary wall and the vancomycin molecule. In addition, the reversed electroosmotic flow (from cathode to anode) produced by the positively charged capillary wall migrates in the same direction of negatively charged analytes (co-electroosmotic flow electrophoresis). Thereby the electrophoretic mobility of negatively charged analytes were drastically accelerated leading to a short separation time of less than 3.4 min. The separation time was further reduced by the use of a short-end-injection technique. For example, the analysis time was achieved by as short as 55 s for a baseline separation of dansyl-alpha-amino-n-butyric acid. Concurrently, the partial filling technique was used to avoid the loss of detection sensitivity caused by the presence of vancomycin in the running buffer. The effect of several parameters, such as HDB concentration, buffer pH, plug length of the chiral selector, concentration of the chiral selector and applied voltage, on enantioselectivity were investigated toward optimization. Besides the advantage of a very short separation time, the method is characterized by high detection sensitivity, high selectivity, and high efficiency.     

Separation of theophylline, caffeine and related drugs by normal-phase capillary electrochromatography.

A capillary electrochromatography (CEC) method has been developed for the separation of theophylline, caffeine and five related drugs on a normal-phase column with UV or photodiode array detection. Several binary, ternary and quaternary mobile phase compositions are evaluated for optimal resolution and elution of these drug analytes. The importance of selecting suitable organic solvents, buffer electrolyte, pH and applied voltage is demonstrated by a systematic study. Excellent separation is achieved for the eight drugs using a ternary mobile phase composition of isopropanol/hexane/1 mM Tris (52:40:8, pH 8), with an efficiency of 63000 theoretical plates per meter at room temperature. Detection limits are typically at the low microg/mL level. The developed method is simple to use and it gives acceptable day-to-day reproducibility.     

Selectivity differences of water‐soluble vitamins separated on hydrophilic interaction stationary phases

In this study, the retention behavior and selectivity differences of water‐soluble vitamins were evaluated with three types of polar stationary phases (i.e. an underivatized silica phase, an amide phase, and an amino phase) operated in the hydrophilic interaction chromatographic mode with ESI mass spectrometric detection. The effects of mobile phase composition, including buffer pH and concentration, on the retention and selectivity of the vitamins were investigated. In all stationary phases, the neutral or weakly charged vitamins exhibited very weak retention under each of the pH conditions, while the acidic and more basic vitamins showed diverse retention behaviors. With the underivatized silica phase, increasing the salt concentration of the mobile phase resulted in enhanced retention of the acidic vitamins, but decreased retention of the basic vitamins. These observations thus signify the involvement of secondary mechanisms, such as electrostatic interaction in the retention of these analytes. Under optimized conditions, a baseline separation of all vitamins was achieved with excellent peak efficiency. In addition, the effects of water content in the sample on retention and peak efficiency were examined, with sample stacking effects observed when the injected sample contained a high amount of water.     

Capillary electrochromatographic separation of illicit drugs employing a cyano stationary phase

In this study, we present a capillary electrochromatographic method for separation of basic compounds of interest in forensic science (amphetamine, methamphetamine, 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine, 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, 3,4-methylenedioxyethylamphetamine, cocaine, codeine, heroin, morphine, and 6-monoacethylmorphine). Several analytical conditions were taken into account to completely separate in the same run the 10 drugs of abuse analyzed. Chromatographic retention, selectivity and efficiency were evaluated in dependence of the type of stationary phase (CN and RP-C₁₈ derivatized silica particles), mobile phase composition, buffer type and pH, sample injection. The optimum separation parameters were set up using a mixture of aqueous sodium phosphate buffer (pH 2.5)/acetonitrile (80/20, v/v) as the mobile phase, 10 kV and 20 °C as applied voltage and capillary temperature, respectively. Under these conditions all the studied analytes were baseline resolved within 20 min. The method performance was investigated in terms of precision, linearity, sensitivity and accuracy to demonstrate the applicability of the developed capillary electrochromatographic system to forensic analysis. Calibration curves provided a good linearity over a working range of 100–1200 ng/mL for all analytes. Limits of detection and quantification were in the range 5–12 ng/mL and 10–30 ng/mL, respectively. Then the method was applied to the analysis of a human urine sample spiked with a basic compounds’ mixture. Urine samples’ pre-treatment was carried out through a solid phase extraction (SPE) procedure on strong cation exchange (SCX) cartridges.     

Optimization of separation and migration behavior of cephalosporins in capillary zone electrophoresis

The influences of buffer pH, buffer concentration and buffer electrolyte on the migration behavior and separation of 12 cephalosporin antibiotics in capillary zone electrophoresis using three different types of buffer electrolyte, including phosphate, citrate, and 2-(N-morpholino)ethanesulfonate (MES), were investigated. The results indicate that, although buffer pH is a crucial parameter, buffer concentration also plays an important role in the separation of cephalosporins, particularly when cefuroxime and cefazolin, cephalexin and cefaclor, or cefotaxime and cephapirin are present as analytes at the same time. The electrophoretic mobility of cephalosporins and electroosmotic mobility measured in citrate and MES buffers are remarkably different from those measured in phosphate buffer. With citrate buffer, optimum buffer concentration is confined to a small range (35-40 mM), whereas buffer concentrations up to 300 mM can be used with MES buffer. Complete separations of 12 cephalosporins could be satisfactorily achieved with these three buffers under various optimum conditions. However, the separability of 12 cephalosporins with citrate or MES buffer is better than that with phosphate buffer. As a consequence of a greater electrophoretic mobility of cephalosporins than the electroosmotic mobility with citrate buffer at pH below about 5, some cephalosporins are not detectable. The cloudiness of the peak identification and of the magnitudes of the electrophoretic mobility of cefotaxime and cefuroxime reported previously are clarified. In addition, the pKa values of cephradine, cephalexin, cefaclor, and cephapirin attributed to the deprotonation of either an amino group or a pyridinium group are reported, and the migration behavior of these cephalosporins in the pH range studied is quantitatively described.     

Capillary electrochromatographic separation of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs with a histidine bonded phase

An open tubular wall-coated capillary column containing histidine functional groups was prepared and employed for the capillary electrochromatographic separation of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. The anion exchange along with the hydrogen bonding and hydrophobic properties of the surface coating allowed the separation of analytes with very similar ionic mobility. Selectivity and resolution were studied by changing the pH over the range from 3.5 to 5.0 and the concentration of the buffer from 10 to 25 mM, as well as variation of the organic modifier, such as methanol, ethanol and 1-propanol over the range 7.5 to 20%. The optimum experimental conditions for the separation of a drug mixture, which consisted of indoprofen, ketoprofen, suprofen, naproxen, flurbiprofen, fenoprofen and ibuprofen were using a mixture of acetate buffer (20 mM, pH 5.0)-ethanol (1:5, v/v) as background electrolyte and an applied voltage of -20 kV with UV detection at 220 nm. The separation of these drugs could be achieved with an average plate number of 1.0 x 10(5) m(-1).     

Chiral anion exchangers applied to capillary electrochromatography enantioseparation of oppositely charged chiral analytes: investigation of stationary and mobile phase parameters

Weak anion-exchange (WAX) type chiral stationary phases (CSPs) based on tert.-butyl carbamoyl quinine as chiral selector (SO) and different types of silica particles (porous and non-porous) as chromatographic support are evaluated in packed capillary electrochromatography (CEC). Their ability to resolve the enantiomers of negatively charged chiral analytes, e.g., N-derivatized amino acids, in the anion-exchange mode and their electrochromatographic characteristics are described in dependence of several mobile phase parameters (pH, buffer type and concentration, organic modifier type and concentration) and other experimental variables (electric field strength, capillary temperature). The inherent "zwitterionic" surface character of such silica-based WAX type CSPs (positively charged SO and negatively charged residual silanols) allows the reversal of the electroosmotic flow (EOF) towards the anode at pH values below the isoelectric point (pI) of the modified surface, whereas a cathodic EOF results at pH values above the pI. Since for negatively charged analytes also an electrophoretic transport increment has to be considered, which can be either in or against the EOF direction, several distinct modes of elution have been observed under different stationary phase and mobile phase conditions: (i) co-electrophoretic elution of the negatively charged solutes with the anodic EOF in the negative polarity mode, (ii) counter-electrophoretic elution with the cathodic EOF in the positive polarity mode, and (iii) electrophoretically dominated elution in the negative polarity mode with a cathodic EOF directed to the injection end of the capillary. Useful enantioseparations of chiral acids have been obtained with all three modes. Enantioselectivity values as high as under pressure-driven conditions and theoretical plate numbers up to 120000 per meter could be achieved under electrically driven conditions. A repeatability study yielded RSD values below 2% for retention times and RSD values in the range of 5-10% for theoretical plate numbers and resolution, thus clearly establishing the reliability of the investigated anion-exchange type CEC enantioseparation methods.     

Fast capillary electrochromatographic analysis of parabens and 4-hydroxybenzoic acid in drugs and cosmetics

A fast capillary electrochromatographic method was developed for the analysis of paraben preservatives in drugs and cosmetics in the presence of their main metabolite and/or impurity, 4-hydroxybenzoic acid. The separation was optimized in a 75 num ID capillary, fully packed with 5 num C18 stationary phase, studying the effects of mobile phase pH and composition (buffer type and organic solvent content). The mobile phase 5 mM ammonium formate, pH 3.0, containing 65% acetonitrile allowed us to obtain the baseline separation of methyl-, ethyl-, propyl-, butyl-, and benzylparabens from a mixture in less than 2.5 min with repeatability and linearity using the short-end injection method (8 cm separation capillary effective length). Under the optimum experimental conditions, the method provided high separation efficiency for parabens, in the range of 129 312-140 325 number of theoretical plates per meter, and analyte quantitation limits (LOQs) in the range of 1.25-2.50 nug/mL. The method was successfully applied to the quantitative analysis of paraben preservatives in pharmaceutical and cosmetic industrial samples with direct injection or after reduced sample pretreatment.     

开管毛细管电色谱分析3种解热镇痛药物

针对生物体液样品开展药物的绿色高效毛细管电泳分离分析具有重要的研究意义。该研究以3种解热镇痛药（4-氨基安替比林、氨基比林及非那西汀）为研究对象,以嵌段聚合物为涂层,建立了药物的开管毛细管电色谱（OT-CEC）分析新策略。首先,采用活性/可控自由基可逆加成-断裂链转移聚合方法,合成制备得到了两亲性嵌段聚合物-聚（苯乙烯-甲基丙烯酸缩水甘油酯）（P（St-GMA））,并将其涂覆到毛细管内壁;其次,通过考察影响OT-CEC分离效率的关键因素,包括嵌段聚合物的聚合时间、涂覆毛细管嵌段聚合物的浓度、电泳运行缓冲液的种类和pH值、有机溶剂添加剂等,优化了3种解热镇痛药物的OT-CEC分离条件;最终发现,不需添加任何有机溶剂及表面活性剂,仅采用50.0 mmol/L乙酸钠-乙酸（pH 5.7）作为OT-CEC的缓冲溶液,就能实现3种解热镇痛药物的基线分离。在8.0~2.5×10³ μmol/L范围内,分析物峰面积与其对应的浓度呈现良好的线性关系,相关系数（R²）均大于0.995,检出限为1.0~2.5 μmol/L。结果表明：P（St-GMA）在溶液中自组装所形成的类表面活性剂胶团结构增强了两亲性嵌段聚合物与解热镇痛药物之间的相互作用,显著提升了解热镇痛药物的OT-CEC分离效率。该工作不仅为制备新型聚合物及调控嵌段聚合物的自组装行为提供了研究思路,也展示了两亲性嵌段聚合物在药物的绿色OT-CEC分析中的实际应用潜力。     

Analyses of preservatives by capillary electrochromatography using methacrylate ester-based monolithic columns

Five common food preservatives were analyzed by capillary electrochromatography, utilizing a methacrylate ester-based monolithic capillary as separation column. In order to optimize the separation of these preservatives, the effects of the pore size of the polymeric stationary phase, the pH and composition of the mobile phase on separation were examined. For all analytes, it was found that an increase in pore size caused a reduction in retention time. However, separation performances were greatly improved in monolithic columns with smaller pore sizes. The pH of the mobile phase had little influence on separation resolution, but a dramatic effect on the amount of sample that was needed to be electrokinetically injected into the monolithic column. In addition, the retention behaviors of these analytes were strongly influenced by the level of acetonitrile in the mobile phase. An optimal separation of the five preservatives was obtained within 7.0 min with a pH 3.0 mobile phase composed of phosphate buffer and acetonitrile 35:65 v/v. Finally, preservatives in real commercial products, including cold syrup, lotion, wine, and soy sauces, were successfully determined by the methacrylate ester-based polymeric monolithic column under this optimized condition.