Pervaporation-gas chromatography coupling for slurry samples. Determination of acetaldehyde and acetone in food

The use of pervaporation for the removal of volatile species from slurry samples, with a full automated introduction of the sample into the lower chamber of the pervaporation unit prior to their individual separation and determination by gas chromatography-flame ionisation detection, is presented for the first time. For this purpose, the upper chamber of the pervaporator is situated in the loop of an HPLC injection valve and the only requirement of the experimental setup for being used with slurries is to have adequately sized diameters for the units of the dynamic manifold assisting the donor chamber in order to avoid clogging by the suspended particles. The method developed was applied to the determination of acetaldehyde and acetone in food samples with different solids contents, such as yoghurt, Actimel and different kind of juices.     

Flow injection dialysis for the determination of anions using ion chromatography

Flow injection dialysis (FID) coupling with ion chromatography (IC) is proposed for simultaneous determination of some anions (bromide, chloride, fluoride, nitrate, nitrite, phosphate and sulfate). A standard or sample containing the anions is injected into a donor stream of a mixture (0.022 M Na(2)CO(3) and 0.028 M NaHCO(3)) flowing into a dialysis cell. The bolus of the dialysate containing the anions, in the acceptor stream of water, flows to the IC injection valve where a portion of the bolus is injected into the IC and analysed under normal IC conditions, with a conductivity detector. FID provides on-line separation and dilution of the analytes from matrix especially from some species such as proteins, surfactant, particulates which may cause damage to the IC columns. Prolongation of life-time of the IC columns is an additional advantage to others which will be discussed. On-line dialysis-IC was also investigated.     

Coupling Pervaporation-Gas Chromatography for Speciation of Volatile Forms of Selenium in Sediments

Abstract

A method for speciation of dimethylselenide (DMeSe), dimethyldiselenide (DMeDSe) and diethylselenide (DEtSe) in sediments based on a coupling between a pervaporation module, a preconcentration sorptive trap and a gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer is reported. The coupling is performed through a high pressure injection valve which allows two different operational modes: (a) analysis without preconcentration, in which analytes are directly driven from the pervaporation chamber to the injection port of the chromatograph, and (b) analysis with preconcentration in a trap, in which the analytes from the pervaporation chamber are first trapped on a Tenax minicolumn and then thermally desorbed and driven to the GC. This second approach improves the sensitivity compared to the direct coupling, reaching estimated absolute detection limits lower than 0.6 ng Se for each tested species. The method is applied to the determination of volatile organic selenium species in several sediments collected from different areas in the Southwest of Spain.     

Determination of anthocyanins in wine based on flow-injection, liquid--solid extraction, continuous evaporation and high-performance liquid chromatography--photometric detection

A continuous method, easy to automate, for the determination of anthocyanins in wine based on the coupling of continuous liquid–solid extraction, evaporation, HPLC individual separation and photometric detection is proposed. The target analytes are removed from the wine in a continuous fashion using a C₁₈ minicolumn and eluted with an aqueous solution (pH 2) with 16% acetonitrile. The eluted fraction is concentrated by solvent evaporation assisted by heat and dragging off the vapour using a flow of N₂. For in-line preconcentration, a continuous evaporation module was designed and located in the manifold between the solid-phase minicolumn and the injection valve of the chromatograph. In this way, injection of the sample into the dynamic system leads the plug through it for liquid–solid extraction of the anthocyanins, partial evaporation of the eluent (with a preconcentration factor as required) and transport to the high-pressure injection valve of the chromatograph, where individual separation and subsequent photometric detection take place. The method thus developed for the determination of malvidin-3-glucoside, cyanidin-3-glucoside and peonidin-3-glucoside anthocyanins in Spanish red wines is more sensitive than the batch manual method based on the same steps, has better linearity of the calibrations curves with lower detection limits and much wider determination range for the most abundant anthocyanins in wine. In addition, the method can be fully automated with low acquisition and maintenance costs.     

On-line pervaporation-capillary electrophoresis for the determination of volatile analytes in food slurries

Pervaporation has been coupled on-line to capillary electrophoresis (CE) by a flow injection manifold and the replenishment system of the CE instrument. The approach allows volatile analytes to be removed, derivatisated and injected into the capillary meanwhile the sample matrix remains in the pervaporator. Acetone and four aldehydes (namely: formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, hexenal, 2-trans-hexenal) have been simultaneously determined in slurries samples by this approach. The detection limits (LOD) ranged between 0.1 and 0.6 microg/ml, the quantification limits between 0.5 and 2.0 microg/ml and the linear dynamic ranges between the limit of quantitation and 150 microg/ml. The precision, expressed as relative standard deviation (RSD), ranged between 0.76 and 4.21% for repeatability and between 1.12 and 4.78% for within laboratory intermediary precision. The errors involved in the analysis of the target analytes--expressed as RSD for all compounds--ranged between 0.13 and 4.87%. The optimal pervaporation time and that necessary for the individual separation/detection of the target analytes are 15 and 10 min, respectively. The analysis frequency is 4 h(-1). The accuracy of the method and potential matrix effects were established by analysing spiked samples. Recoveries between 96.12 and 105.67% were obtained. The proposed method was applied to 10 samples with different solid contents (namely, such yoghurt, juice and yoghurt-juice mixtures).     

Comparative Response Characterization of a Universal Acoustic Flame Detector for Chromatography

The relative response towards a wide variety of hydrocarbons was measured simultaneously in both the acoustic flame detector (AFD) and the flame ionization detector (FID). The compounds examined included alkanes, aromatics, unsaturates, aldehydes, ketones, alcohols, carboxylic acids, and a number of hetero-atomic organic analytes. A very close linear correlation was found between AFD and FID response for these analytes with regression providing an r ² coefficient of 0.9103. The observed universal AFD response towards hydrocarbons was attributed to a reduction in flame burning velocity through the capture of key propagating species such as hydrogen radicals. While a few minor exceptions to this correlation were observed, the most notable differences occurred for organometallic compounds, which responded 2–3 orders of magnitude more strongly in the AFD than anticipated by their FID response alone. It was found that the metals present in such analytes are directly responsible for generating the greatly increased AFD response observed, which is attributed to their known radical scavenger properties. Results indicate that overall the AFD provides a uniform response towards most hydrocarbons that is qualitatively very similar to that of an FID. For those analytes containing metals or other moieties that may be capable of significantly altering flame burning velocity, an enhanced AFD response is to be anticipated.     

Clean-up of plasma extracts by gel permeation chromatography during analysis of isosorbide nitrates by capillary gas chromatography.

This work describes how gel permeation chromatography (GPC) can be used for sample clean-up to reduce the fouling of the column in an automated on-column injector. The analytes were isolated from plasma together with the internal standard (isomannide dinitrate) by liquid-liquid extraction on Extrelut silica columns. The extracts were evaporated and reconstituted in tetrahydrofuran for separation of the analytes from non-volatile plasma components by GPC on a styrene-divinylbenzene column with 100 A pore size. A programmable autosampler with an additional three-way valve was used for injection and fraction collection. The molecular weight fraction between 100 and 700 a.m.u. was collected and transferred to the on-column autosampler for capillary gas chromatography on a 30-m column butt-connected to a 0.2-m pre-column. The pre-column was replaced after 50 sample injections. When the GPC purification was excluded from the work-up procedure a deposit of non-volatile components was formed at the injection zone of the pre-column which resulted in excessive peak-tailing after only five or six injections of plasma extract. The limit of determination was 0.2 ng/ml plasma for isosorbide dinitrate and 0.4 ng/ml for the mononitrates.     

Rapid and efficient isotachophoretic preconcentration in free solution coupled with gel electrophoresis separation on a microchip using a negative pressure sampling technique

We present a novel isotachophoresis–gel electrophoresis (ITP–GE) microchip system designed for rapid and efficient isotachophoretic preconcentration coupled with gel electrophoresis separation by using a negative pressure sampling technique. The overall ITP–GE procedure involves only three steps: sample loading, ITP preconcentration and GE separation and was controlled by a simple and compact negative pressure sampling device, which is composed of a vacuum vessel, a three-way electromagnetic valve and a single high voltage power supply. During the sample loading stage, a negative pressure was applied via a three-way electromagnetic valve in headspace of the two sealed sample waste reservoirs (SWs). A sandwiched sample zone between a leading and a terminating electrolyte zone was formed in the channel intersection in less than 1 s. Once the three-way electromagnetic valve was switched to connect SWs to ambient atmosphere to release vacuum in SWs, ITP preconcentration in free solution and GE separation in the 4% hydroxyethylcellulose (HEC) sieving material were consequently activated under the electric potentials applied. The performance of present approach was evaluated by using DNA fragments as model analytes. Compared to conventional cross microchip GE using electrokinetic pinched injection, an average signal enhancement of 185-fold was obtained with satisfactory resolution. The results demonstrated the ITP–GE approach possessing an exciting potential of high sensitivity and short sampling time with significant simplification in operation and instrumentation.     

Parallel separation of multiple samples with negative pressure sample injection on a 3-D microfluidic array chip

A simple and powerful microfluidic array chip-based electrophoresis system, which is composed of a 3-D microfluidic array chip, a microvacuum pump-based negative pressure sampling device, a high-voltage supply and an LIF detector, was developed. The 3-D microfluidic array chip was fabricated with three glass plates, in which a common sample waste bus (SW(bus)) was etched in the bottom layer plate to avoid intersecting with the separation channel array. The negative pressure sampling device consists of a microvacuum air pump, a buffer vessel, a 3-way electromagnet valve, and a vacuum gauge. In the sample loading step, all the six samples and buffer solutions were drawn from their reservoirs across the injection intersections through the SW(bus) toward the common sample waste reservoir (SW(T)) by negative pressure. Only 0.5 s was required to obtain six pinched sample plugs at the channel crossings. By switching the three-way electromagnetic valve to release the vacuum in the reservoir SW(T), six sample plugs were simultaneously injected into the separation channels by EOF and electrophoretic separation was activated. Parallel separations of different analytes are presented on the 3-D array chip by using the newly developed sampling device.     

Procedure of determination of volatile trihalomethanes in human urine with pervaporation and gas chromatography

This work presents the development of a novel procedure for the determination of trihalomethanes (THMs) in human urine samples based on: (1) pervaporation (PV) of analytes from urine samples as a convenient analyte isolation/enrichment technique; (2) direct aqueous injection of the extracts onto the column of a gas chromatograph equipped with an electron capture detector (DAI-GC-ECD). Basic parameters of the new PV-DAI-GC-ECD procedure were evaluated. The calibration curves were linear in the concentration range examined. Intermediate precision of the procedure was good, at the same level of about 20% for all analytes. The method detection limits were below 0.10?µg?L^?1 for all analytes. The enrichment factors did not differ significantly for water and urine samples, indicating little or no matrix effects.     

Flow injection chemiluminescent method for the successive determination of l-cysteine and l-cystine using photogenerated tris(2,2'-bipyridyl) ruthenium (III)

Flow injection configurations were developed for the individual determination of l-cysteine and l-cystine and for the mixture of both analytes. The method is based on the reaction of l-cysteine with tris(2,2'-bipyridyl) ruthenium (II) and peroxydisulphate under UV irradiation to produce chemiluminescence. Cystine is determined after reduction to cysteine in a copper-coated cadmium reductor mini-column in the flow system. The inclusion of a selection valve in the configuration allows the successive determination of the two analytes. Calibration was linear between 2x10(-6) and 5x10(-4) moll(-1) for cysteine and between 1x10(-6) and 2x10(-4) moll(-1) for cystine. When applied to pharmaceutical formulations, the procedure was free from interferences from common excipients. The results obtained for the assay of commercial formulations compared well with those obtained by an official method and demonstrated good accuracy and precision.     

气相色谱法测定大气中的CO、CO_2以及低级烃类物质

建立了运用气相色谱对大气中一氧化碳、二氧化碳以及3种低级烃类甲烷、乙烯和乙炔进行同时分析的方法。气相色谱分析系统由自动进样器、1个十通阀协同1个六通阀,以及1个十通阀协同1个四通阀组成,可以实现进样、分离和反吹功能。HP-PLOT Q开口毛细管柱用于5种气体的分离,柱后连接热导检测器;分离完成后,一氧化碳和二氧化碳通过甲烷转化炉中的镍催化作用转化为甲烷,用氢火焰离子化检测器进行检测。5种目标分析物在9 min内完全分离。一氧化碳、甲烷、二氧化碳、乙烯以及乙炔的线性范围分别为3.3~4 990.0、3.3~5 010.0、6.6~4 990.0、4.2~5 080.0、3.9~5 030.0μmol/mol,检出限为1.0~2.0μmol/mol,相关系数不低于0.997,相对标准偏差(RSD,n=5)不大于3.5%。该方法简单、准确,可操作性强。     

Flow injection on-line dialysis coupled to high performance liquid chromatography for the determination of some organic acids in wine

A combined system of flow injection on-line dialysis sample pretreatment and high performance liquid chromatographic separation/detection (FID-HPLC) was developed for simultaneous determination of six organic acids (tartaric, malic, lactic, acetic, citric and succinic acids). A sample or mixed standard solution (400 μL) was injected into a donor stream (water) of FID system and was pushed further through a dialysis cell, while an acceptor solution (water) was held in the opposite side of the dialysis membrane. The dialysate containing organic acids in the acceptor solution was then flowed to an injection loop of the HPLC valve, where it was further injected into the HPLC system and analysed under normal HPLC conditions, using a reversed-phase (C₁₈) analytical column and UV detection (210 nm). The order of elution was tartaric, malic, lactic, acetic, citric and succinic acids with the analysis time of 8 min. The FID system could be operated in parallel with HPLC separation, providing sample throughput of 7.5 h⁻¹. Dialysis efficiencies of six organic acids were in range of 4.6-9.5%. Calibration graphs for all the mentioned organic acids were linear over the range of 250-7500 mg L⁻¹. Precisions for all the organic acids were within 5.4%. The proposed system was successfully applied for analysis of some Thai wines. By spiking wine samples with mixed acid standard solutions, the percentage recoveries in range of 84-104 were found. This system has advantages of fast and high degrees of automation for dialysis sample pretreatment, on-line sample separation and dilution, good clean-up for prolongation of life-time of the HPLC column and low consumption of chemicals and materials.     

Dynamic analyte introduction and focusing in plastic microfluidic devices for proteomic analysis

Isoelectric focusing (IEF) separations, in general, involve the use of the entire channel filled with a solution mixture containing protein/peptide analytes and carrier ampholytes for the creation of a pH gradient. Thus, the preparative capabilities of IEF are inherently greater than most microfluidics-based electrokinetic separation techniques. To further increase sample loading and therefore the concentrations of focused analytes, a dynamic approach, which is based on electrokinetic injection of proteins/peptides from solution reservoirs, is demonstrated in this study. The proteins/peptides continuously migrate into the plastic microchannel and encounter a pH gradient established by carrier ampholytes originally present in the channel for focusing and separation. Dynamic sample introduction and analyte focusing in plastic microfluidic devices can be directly controlled by various electrokinetic conditions, including the injection time and the applied electric field strength. Differences in the sample loading are contributed by electrokinetic injection bias and are affected by the individual analyte's electrophoretic mobility. Under the influence of 30 min electrokinetic injection at constant electric field strength of 500 V/cm, the sample loading is enhanced by approximately 10-100 fold in comparison with conventional IEF.     

Polymeric membrane pervaporation

Pervaporation is an efficient membrane process for liquid separation. The past decades had witnessed substantial progress and exciting breakthroughs in both the fundamental and application aspect of pervaporation. This review provided an analytical overview on the potential of pervaporation for separating liquid mixtures in terms of the solubility parameter and the kinetic parameter of solvents. Focus of the review was given to the fundamental understanding of the membrane. Research progress, challenges and opportunities, and the prospect of pervaporation were also discussed. The thermodynamic approach of pervaporation, featuring emphasizing membrane/species interactions, though gained great successes in the past decades, is now facing its toughest challenge in the org–org separation. A kinetic era of pervaporation, featuring emphasizing diffusion selectivity, as well as the synergy between the selective diffusion and sorption, is in the making, and this approach will eventually find solutions to the challenging org–org separation.     

Achieving high peak capacity production for gas chromatography and comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography by minimizing off-column peak broadening

By taking into consideration band broadening theory and using those results to select experimental conditions, and also by reducing the injection pulse width, peak capacity production (i.e., peak capacity per separation time) is substantially improved for one dimensional (1D-GC) and comprehensive two dimensional (GC×GC) gas chromatography. A theoretical framework for determining the optimal linear gas velocity (the linear gas velocity producing the minimum H), from experimental parameters provides an in-depth understanding of the potential for GC separations in the absence of extra-column band broadening. The extra-column band broadening is referred to herein as off-column band broadening since it is additional band broadening not due to the on-column separation processes. The theory provides the basis to experimentally evaluate and improve temperature programmed 1D-GC separations, but in order to do so with a commercial 1D-GC instrument platform, off-column band broadening from injection and detection needed to be significantly reduced. Specifically for injection, a resistively heated transfer line is coupled to a high-speed diaphragm valve to provide a suitable injection pulse width (referred to herein as modified injection). Additionally, flame ionization detection (FID) was modified to provide a data collection rate of 5kHz. The use of long, relatively narrow open tubular capillary columns and a 40°C/min programming rate were explored for 1D-GC, specifically a 40m, 180μm i.d. capillary column operated at or above the optimal average linear gas velocity. Injection using standard auto-injection with a 1:400 split resulted in an average peak width of ～1.5s, hence a peak capacity production of 40peaks/min. In contrast, use of modified injection produced ～500ms peak widths for 1D-GC, i.e., a peak capacity production of 120peaks/min (a 3-fold improvement over standard auto-injection). Implementation of modified injection resulted in retention time, peak width, peak height, and peak area average RSD%'s of 0.006, 0.8, 3.4, and 4.0%, respectively. Modified injection onto the first column of a GC×GC coupled with another high-speed valve injection onto the second column produced an instrument with high peak capacity production (500-800peaks/min), ～5-fold to 8-fold higher than typically reported for GC×GC.     

The application of two total transfer valve modulators for comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography of volatile organic compounds

Rotary and diaphragm 6-port 2-position valves have been evaluated as modulators for comprehensive GC. A total transfer methodology was used such that all analyte materials from the primary column were passed to the second separating column. The transfer methodology used repeated short periods of stop flow, but retained good primary column performance since primary carrier flow was partially maintained as pressure equilibrated along the length of the first column. Highly resolved separations of complex samples such as petrol and essential oils were achieved with equivalent performance (in terms of second column resolution) to thermal modulation with flame ionisation detection (FID). The valve modulators tested could outperform thermal modulators for very highly volatile organic species since the modulation process was insensitive to analyte vapour pressure. The diaphragm valve tested showed the best performance and was incorporated with a thermal desorption system to provide a high sensitivity separation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in air with LODs for individual VOCs of 2-4 pptV for a 1-L air sample.     

Coupling of sequential injection analysis and capillary electrophoresis - Laser-induced fluorescence via a valve interface for on-line derivatization and analysis of amino acids and peptides

The on-line coupling of sequential injection analysis (SIA) and capillary electrophoresis (CE) via an in-line injection valve is presented. The SIA system is used for automated derivatization of amino acids and peptides. Dichlorotriazinylaminofluorescein serves as the derivatization agent, thus enabling sensitive laser-induced fluorescence detection of the derivatized analytes. The SIA procedure includes the following steps: (a) introduction of reagent and sample zones in a holding coil, (b) sample and reagent mixing in a reaction coil, (c) stop-flow step for increase of the reaction time, and (d) delivery of derivatized sample into the loop of the micro-valve interface. A small portion of the analyte zone is introduced electrokinetically in the separation capillary via the valve interface and CE analysis is performed. Factors affecting the CE separation, such as pH, the borate and sodium dodecyl sulphate concentration of the background electrolyte have been optimized. The derivatization conditions have been studied to obtain a high reaction yield in a relative short time. The transfer of a part of the reaction plug into the loop of the valve interface has been optimized. Using des-Tyr(1)-[Met]-enkephalinamide as test compound, it is demonstrated that after automated derivatization, on-line electrophoretic analysis could be achieved. Glycine has been selected as the internal standard in order to correct for variations in reaction time and filling of the injection loop. For the enkephalin, good reproducibility (RSD<4.5% calculated by the ratio of the peak areas) and linearity (0.5-5 microg mL(-1), R(2)>or=0.994) are obtained with a detection limit of 30 ng mL(-1) (S/N=3).     

Fluidic communication between multiple vertically segregated microfluidic channels connected by nanocapillary array membranes

Hybrid microfluidic/nanofluidic devices offer unique capabilities for manipulating and analyzing minute volumes of expensive or hard-to-obtain samples. Here, multilayer poly-(methyl methacrylate) microchips, with multiple spatially isolated microfluidic channels interconnected by nanocapillary array membranes (NCAMs), are fabricated using an adhesive contact printing process. The NCAMs, positioned between the microfluidic channel layers, add functionality to the inter-microchannel fluid transfer unit operation. They do so because the transport of specific analytes through the NCAM can be controlled by adjusting the ionic strength, the polarity of the applied bias, the surface charge density, and the pore size. A simplified, floating injection technique for NCAM-coupled nanofluidic devices is described and compared with conventional biased injection. In the floating injection approach, a voltage is applied across the injection channel and the slight electric field extension at the cross-section is used to transfer analytes through the nanopores to the separation channel. Floating injection excels in plug reproducibility, separation resolution, and operation simplicity, although it decreases assay throughput relative to biased injection. Floating injection can avoid the uneven distribution of analytes in the microfluidic channel that sometimes results from biased injection because of the volume mismatch between NCAM nanopore transport capacity and the supply of fluid. Moreover, the pressure-driven flow caused by the mismatch of the EOFs in the microfluidic channels connected by an NCAM must be considered when using NCAMs with pore diameters below 50 nm.     

Pressure-driven sample injection with quantitative liquid dispensing for on-chip electrophoresis.

A novel pressure-driven sample injection method was developed as an alternative to electrokinetic injection, and electrophoretic separation was carried out on a microfabricated device employing this method. This method enables a defined volume of liquid dispensing, followed by instantaneous injection driven by pneumatic pressure, greatly simplifying the injection procedure. A particular microstructure, called a "metering chamber", has been designed for the quantitative dispensing of an ultra-low volume of sample liquid; a "hydrophobic passive valve" equipped with an air vent channel is employed for injecting a dispensed sample into the separation channel. The reproducibility of dispensing was 3.3% (n = 15), expressed by the variation of dispensed volumes. The electrophoretic separation of DNA fragments was performed using this injection method, varying the injection volumes from 0.45 to 4.0 nL, and the separation efficiencies were compared. This precise injection method, easily variable in injection volumes, is highly suitable for quantitative as well as qualitative electrophoretic analyses.