Polydimethylsiloxane: A General Matrix for High‐Performance Chromatographic NMR Spectroscopy

The detection and structural characterization of the components of a mixture is a challenging task. Therefore, the development of a facile and general method that enables both the separation and the structural characterization of the components is desired. Diffusion‐ordered NMR spectroscopy (DOSY) with the aid of a matrix is a promising tool for this purpose. However, because the currently existing matrices only separate limited components, the application of the DOSY technique is restricted. Herein we introduce a new versatile matrix, poly(dimethylsiloxane), which can fully separate many mixtures of different structural types by liquid‐state NMR spectroscopy. With poly(dimethylsiloxane), liquid‐state chromatographic NMR spectroscopy could become a general approach for the structural elucidation of mixtures of compounds.     

Structure Identification of Aporphine Alkaloids by On‐Line Coupling of HPLC‐NMR with Loop Storage

The potential of coupling HPLC separation methodology to on‐line high resolution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy has been demonstrated with a mixture of nine aporphine alkaloids. A loop storage procedure after separation has facilitated the identification of closely eluted peaks (α = k₂/k₁ = 1.01 and Δv = 0.37 min = 367 μL). These were collected off‐line and identified by a 1D ¹H NMR spectrum. For this purpose an automated procedure has been implemented which includes the use of shaped pulses, multiple solvents suppression and ¹³C satellite suppression of acetonitrile.     

A chromatographic response function for automated optimization of separations

Summary A chromatographic response function is studied that is sensitive to important criteria of analytical performance: selectivity, accuracy, precision and time required to perform the separation. This function can be applied to mixtures of unknown solutes and little computational effort is needed to evaluate the numerical value of the function from the chromatogram. It shows well defined optima at elution strengths that give minimal elution times simultaneously with good separations in high-performance liquid chromatography. No prior chromatographic information characterizing the expected performance of a system is required. It is possible to use this function without a mechanistic model describing the separation process.     

Investigating the Selectivity of Triacontyl Interphases

What causes the shape selectivity of C ₃₀ phases? This question can be answered by combining NMR and fluorescence spectroscopies with HPLC separations at various temperatures. The selectivities depend on the ratio of trans to gauche conformations of the alkyl chains, whose dynamic behavior was characterized with a two-dimensional solid-state NMR spectrum (shown on the right).     

Improving analysis of apolar organic compounds by the use of a capillary titania-based column: Application to the direct determination of faecal sterols cholesterol and coprostanol in wastewater samples

This article reports a new procedure for the direct determination of faecal sterols coprostanol and cholesterol in wastewater samples as tracers of human sewage contamination. The method combines in-tube solid-phase microextraction (IT-SPME) for analyte enrichment and capillary liquid chromatography (LC) for separation with diode array detection for identification and quantification. A titania-based polymeric capillary column and a conventional octadecyl silica (ODS) capillary column were evaluated and compared for their ability to separate the analytes. The titania-based column allowed the separation of the analytes in much shorter chromatographic times and with better chromatographic profiles, which in turn resulted in better detectability. In addition, IT-SPME allowed the direct injection into the chromatographic system of sample volumes as large as 200 μL, thus making unnecessary off-line clean-up and concentration steps. In such a way, the tested compounds could be directly analysed in less than 10 min, the limits of detection (LODs) being 10 and 1.2 μg/L for coprostanol and cholesterol, respectively. The reliability of the proposed method was tested by processing several wastewater samples.     

An amperometric detector with a tubular electrode deposited on the capillary for capillary liquid chromatography

A procedure is described for the preparation of a tubular electrode by chemical deposition of platinum at the end of a fused-silica capillary. The properties of the electrode were tested under liquid chromatographic conditions, demonstrating that both the static and the dynamic behaviour of the detection system satisfy the requirements of capillary chromatographic separations and compare well with a wall-jet amperometric system and with UV photometric detection. The detection system described is easy to prepare and does not require any time-consuming positioning of the electrode system as it is integrated into the separation part of the apparatus.     

Time-dependent column performance of cholesterol-based stationary phases for HPLC by LC characterization and solid-state NMR spectroscopy

Three different cholesterol-based stationary phases were investigated with respect to their time-dependent separation behavior. The examined stationary phases differ in the used spacer molecule and the synthesis route and were used under routine laboratory conditions over a period of two years. The chromatographic behavior of the three phases was determined by using a standard reference material in addition to a separation of a steroid mixture. The surface chemistry and the modification of these with the chemically bonded moiety were investigated with nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and elemental analysis. Through applying different techniques we determined changes in retention and selectivity; solid-state NMR spectra showed changes in the surface chemistry dependent on the synthesis route. Superior long-term stability was observed for the undecanoate-cholesterol (UDC-Chol) column in terms of hydrophobic retentiveness and selectivity.     

Comprehensive two-dimensional liquid chromatography — practical impacts of theoretical considerations. A review

A theory of comprehensive two-dimensional separations by liquid chromatographic techniques is overviewed. It includes heart-cutting and comprehensive two-dimensional separation modes, with attention to basic concepts of two-dimensional separations: resolution, peak capacity, efficiency, orthogonality and selectivity. Particular attention is paid to the effects of sample structure on the retention and advantages of a multi-dimensional HPLC for separation of complex samples according to structural correlations. Optimization of 2D separation systems, including correct selection of columns, flow-rate, fraction volumes and mobile phase, is discussed. Benefits of simultaneous programmed elution in both dimensions of LCxLC comprehensive separations are shown.     

Fundamentals and practice for ultrasensitive laser-induced fluorescence detection in microanalytical systems

Laser-induced fluorescence is an extremely sensitive method for detection in chemical separations. In addition, it is well-suited to detection in small volumes, and as such is widely used for capillary electrophoresis and microchip-based separations. This review explores the detailed instrumental conditions required for sub-zeptomole, sub-picomolar detection limits. The key to achieving the best sensitivity is to use an excitation and emission volume that is matched to the separation system and that, simultaneously, will keep scattering and luminescence background to a minimum. We discuss how this is accomplished with confocal detection, 90 degrees on-capillary detection, and sheath-flow detection. It is shown that each of these methods have their advantages and disadvantages, but that all can be used to produce extremely sensitive detectors for capillary- or microchip-based separations. Analysis of these capabilities allows prediction of the optimal means of achieving ultrasensitive detection on microchips.     

Optimization of resolution in micellar electrokinetic chromatography

A comparison of separations conducted in sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and SDS modified with Brij 35 indicates that selectivity, in Micellar Electrokinetic Chromatography (MEKC), is governed by the composition of the micellar phase. Beyond selectivity optimization, resolution may be improved by increasing efficiency or decreasing electroosmotic flow. Of these approaches, increasing capillary length (to improve efficiency) should be a more time effective means of improving separation.     

气相色谱法分离和测定溶剂型木器涂料中正丁醇与苯系物

在气相色谱法测定溶剂型木器涂料中正丁醇及苯系物(包括苯、甲苯及二甲苯)时采用了VF-200MS型号的毛细管色谱柱。由于此型号的毛细管柱具有较强极性,不仅能达到正丁醇与苯系物之间的有效而满意的分离,而且还能使苯系物(包括苯、甲苯、乙苯、二甲苯)之间和二甲苯的同分异构体之间的有效分离。测定中采用正戊烷作内标和用火焰离子检测器检测。此方法的检出限(2S/N)在1.7~3.5 ng之间。用一含有正丁醇的硝基漆样品按所提出的方法进行多次重复测定,并在此样品的基础上加入各被测化合物的标准后进行测定,从而对方法的回收率和精密度作了测试,测得其回收率在87.8%~100.0%之间,测定值的相对标准偏差(n=6)均小于2.5%。     

High-efficiency peptide analysis on monolithic multimode capillary columns: Pressure-assisted capillary electrochromatography/capillary electrophoresis coupled to UV and electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry

High-efficiency peptide analysis using multimode pressure-assisted capillary electrochromatography/capillary electrophoresis (pCEC/pCE) monolithic polymeric columns and the separation of model peptide mixtures and protein digests by isocratic and gradient elution under an applied electric field with UV and electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) detection is demonstrated. Capillary multipurpose columns were prepared in silanized fused-silica capillaries of 50, 75, and 100 microm inner diameters by thermally induced in situ copolymerization of methacrylic monomers in the presence of n-propanol and formamide as porogens and azobisisobutyronitrile as initiator. N-Ethylbutylamine was used to modify the chromatographic surface of the monolith from neutral to cationic. Monolithic columns were termed as multipurpose or multimode columns because they showed mixed modes of separation mechanisms under different conditions. Anion-exchange separation ability in the liquid chromatography (LC) mode can be determined by the cationic chromatographic surface of the monolith. At acidic pH and high voltage across the column, the monolithic stationary phase provided conditions for predominantly capillary electrophoretic migration of peptides. At basic pH and electric field across the column, enhanced chromatographic retention of peptides on monolithic capillary column made CEC mechanisms of migration responsible for separation. The role of pressure, ionic strength, pH, and organic content of the mobile phase on chromatographic performance was investigated. High efficiencies (exceeding 300 000 plates/m) of the monolithic columns for peptide separations are shown using volatile and nonvolatile, acidic and basic buffers. Good reproducibility and robustness of isocratic and gradient elution pressure-assisted CEC/CE separations were achieved for both UV and ESI-MS detection. Manipulation of the electric field and gradient conditions allowed high-throughput analysis of complex peptide mixtures. A simple design of sheathless electrospray emitter provided effective and robust low dead volume interfacing of monolithic multimode columns with ESI-MS. Gradient elution pressure-assisted mixed-mode separation CE/CEC-ESI-MS mass fingerprinting and data-dependent pCE/pCEC-ESI-MS/MS analysis of a bovine serum albumin (BSA) tryptic digest in less than 5 min yielding high sequence coverage (73%) demonstrated the potential of the method.     

Detection of Potential TNA and RNA Nucleoside Precursors in a Prebiotic Mixture by Pure Shift Diffusion‐Ordered NMR Spectroscopy

In the context of prebiotic chemistry, one of the characteristics of mixed nitrogenous‐oxygenous chemistry is its propensity to give rise to highly complex reaction mixtures. There is therefore an urgent need to develop improved spectroscopic techniques if onerous chromatographic separations are to be avoided. One potential avenue is the combination of pure shift methodology, in which NMR spectra are measured with greatly improved resolution by suppressing multiplet structure, with diffusion‐ordered spectroscopy, in which NMR signals from different species are distinguished through their different rates of diffusion. Such a combination has the added advantage of working with intact mixtures, allowing analyses to be carried out without perturbing mixtures in which chemical entities are part of a network of reactions in equilibrium. As part of a systems chemistry approach towards investigating the self‐assembly of potentially prebiotic small molecules, we have analysed the complex mixture arising from mixing glycolaldehyde and cyanamide, in a first application of pure shift DOSY NMR to the characterisation of a partially unknown reaction composition. The work presented illustrates the potential of pure shift DOSY to be applied to chemistries that give rise to mixtures of compounds in which the NMR signal resolution is poor. The direct formation of potential RNA and TNA nucleoside precursors, amongst other adducts, was observed. These preliminary observations may have implications for the potentially prebiotic assembly chemistry of pyrimidine threonucleotides, and therefore of TNA, by using recently reported chemistries that yield the activated pyridimidine ribonucleotides.     

Separation of Poly(propylene) Samples According to Tacticity Using a Hypercarb Column

Summary: Samples of polypropylene having different stereoregularities, i.e., differing in the isotactic or syndiotactic stereosequence distribution, were separated by means of high-temperature gradient adsorption liquid chromatography. The porous graphite was used as stationary phase in the column packing (Hypercarb®). Predominantly isotactic samples eluted in 1-decanol, while predominantly syndiotactic samples eluted in a binary gradient composed of 1-decanol and 1,2,4-trichlorobenzene. Their elution volumes increased with the average content of the syndiotactic units (racemo dyads mole fraction as determined with the NMR spectroscopy) in the samples. Thus these chromatographic separations represent a new method for the analysis and characterization of stereoregular polyolefins. It requires substantially less time and solvents than the commonly used methods.     

Demonstration of an integrated capillary electrophoresis-laser-induced fluorescence fiber-optic sensor

A unique integrated separation-based fiber-optic sensor for remote analysis, that incorporates capillary electrophoresis (CE) directly at the fiber sensing terminus is described for the first time. Based on laser-induced fluorescence detection, the sensor offers the potential for high sensitivity. Although the broad-band nature of fluorescence spectra limits selectivity, the high separation power of CE provides a unique dimension of selectivity, while permitting a design of diminutive size. Previously reported fluorescence-based sensors that utilize a chemical reagent phase to impart selectivity tend to be inflexible (not readily adaptable to the detection of different species) and "one-measurement-only" sensors. Conversely, the CE-based fiber-optic sensor described here is both versatile and reusable. The analysis speed and the potential for remote control are further attributes which make the system amenable to remote sensing. A "single-fiber" optical detection arrangement and a "single-reservoir" CE system with the fiber-optic probing the outlet of the separation capillary are employed. A preliminary evaluation of the separation characteristics of this CE-based sensor is presented. Highlights include an observed separation efficiency of up to 3000 theoretical plates (8 cm separation capillary) and migration time reproducibility of less than 10% for frontal mode CE separations. The potential utility of the sensor for remote analysis is demonstrated with separations involving the CE analysis of charged fluorescent dyes, CE analysis of metal complexes based on in situ complexation and micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatographic analysis of neutral fluorescent compounds.     

Hyphenation of capillary separations with nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy

The hyphenation of small-volume separations to information-rich detection offers the promise of unmatched analytical information on the components of complex mixtures. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy provides information about molecular structure, although sensitivity remains an issue for on-line NMR detection. This is especially true when hyphenating NMR to capillary separations as the observation time and analyte mass are decreased to the point where reduced information is obtained from the eluting analytes. Because of these limitations, advances in instrumental performance have a large impact on the overall performance of a separation–NMR system. Instrumental aspects and the capabilities of cLC–NMR, CEC–NMR and CE–NMR are reviewed, and applications that have used this technology highlighted. Recent trends towards small volume capillary scale separations are emphasized, as is the recent success of capillary-isotachophoresis (cITP)–NMR.     

Tailoring orthogonal proteomic routines to understand protein separation during ion exchange chromatography

Surface charge, molecular weight, and folding state are known to influence protein chromatographic behaviour onto ion exchangers. Experimentally, information related to such factors can be gathered via 2-DE methods. The application of 2-D PAGE under denaturing/reducing conditions was already shown to reveal separation trends within a large protein population from cell extracts. However, ion-exchange chromatography normally runs under native conditions. A tailored protocol consisting in a first separation based on IEF on Immobiline strips under native conditions followed by a second dimension SDS-PAGE run was adopted. The chromatographic versus electrophoretic separation behaviours of two model proteins, thaumatin (TAU) and BSA, were compared to better understand which proteomic routine would be better suited to anticipate IEX chromatographic separations. It was observed that the information contained in the pI value obtained with the adapted 2-DE protocol showed better correlation with the IEX chromatographic behaviour. On the other hand, chromatographic separations performed in the presence of urea as a denaturant have demonstrated the potential influence of hydrodynamic radius/conformation on protein separation. Moreover, the information provided by such 2-D system correlated well with the chromatographic behaviour of an additional set of pure proteins. An initial prediction of protein ion-exchange chromatographic behaviour could be possible utilizing an experimental approach based on 2-DE running under milder chemical conditions. This technique provides information that more closely resembles the separation behaviour observed with a complex biotechnological feedstock.     

胶束电动毛细管色谱法同时测定西洋参中人参皂苷Rg1、Re和Rb1

建立了西洋参中人参皂苷Rg1、Re及Rb1同时分离测定的胶束电动毛细管色谱新方法,以解决西洋参样品中难溶于水的3种人参皂苷的准确定量问题。以40.2 cm(有效长度30 cm)×50 μm的熔融石英毛细管柱为分离柱,分离缓冲液的组成为V(15 mmol/L Na2B4O7+30 mmol/L H3BO3 (pH 9.0)+100 mmol/L十二烷基硫酸钠(SDS)+30 g/L聚乙二醇35000):V(甲醇):V(异丙醇)=2:1:1,于214 nm下检测。详细研究了影响分离的因素。Rg1、Re及Rb1检出限(信噪比(S/N)为3)分别为30、40及30 mg/L,定量限(S/N=9)分别为90、120及90 mg/L,加标回收率为87.4%～95.2%。用该法测定了西洋参标准物质,并与高效液相色谱法的检测结果进行了比对,结果吻合。应用该方法分别测定了中国、加拿大及美国的西洋参,获得满意的结果。     

Unified capillary chromatography

The idea of unified capillary chromatography is described. Different-mode separations could be carried out by changing the column temperature and the pressure by using a single system. Gas chromatographic separation of aromatic hydrocarbons followed by supercritical fluid chromatographic separation of styrene oligomers was carried out in series in a single chromatographic run.     

超临界流体色谱与高效液相色谱分离手性化合物的比较

超临界流体色谱(SFC)分离具有速度快、分离效率高、溶剂消耗少等优点,近年来在手性化合物的分离分析中得到诸多应用。本文对比研究了涂覆型多糖手性色谱柱在SFC和高效液相色谱(HPLC)上拆分24种手性化合物的差异。通过比较这些化合物在色谱柱上的保留时间和选择因子等发现多数化合物在SFC上的分离效率要高于其在HPLC上的分离效率,但HPLC对轴手性化合物的分离效率要优于SFC。SFC和HPLC的分离表现出一定的互补性,随着苯环侧链烷基的碳数增加,化合物在SFC上的保留逐渐增强,而在HPLC的保留却逐渐减弱。叶菌唑在使用SFC和HPLC分析时出现了洗脱顺序反转的现象。这些结果为SFC手性拆分提供了参考。