Separation of pesticides by high-performance liquid chromatography with amperometric detection

The possibility of the amperometric detection of a number of pesticides, such as benomyl, thiram, linuron, metoxuron, desmedipham, dicuron, lenacil, and fludioxonil, widely used in agrochemical practice was studied. The effect of the working electrode material (glassy carbon, nickel, and gold) and the type of the electrochemical cell on the value of the analytical signal was studied using the example of thiram. It was found that the optimum potential of the working electrode in analyzing a pesticide mixture was 1400 mV. The dependence of the analytical signal on the pesticide concentration was shown to be linear. The detection limits for the analytes were calculated. Using a 100-μL sample loop, all of the studied pesticides can be determined at the level of the maximum permissible concentration (MPC). The amperometric determination of seven pesticides at the level of MPC in real samples was shown by the examples of model mixtures dissolved in tap water and beetroot juice.     

Quantitation of homoharringtonine in plasma by high-performance liquid chromatography with amperometric detection

A high-performance liquid chromatographic procedure was developed for the quantitation of homoharringtonine in plasma. Harringtonine was used as an internal standard, and 1 ml of sample was required. The single-step extraction with dichloromethane resulted in almost 100% recovery for homoharringtonine and harringtonine. Analysis was performed on a reversed-phase CN column with amperometric detection. Chromatography was completed in 12 min. At an oxidation potential of +1.0 V, the detection limit was 1 ng/ml at a signal-to-noise ratio of 2. The mean analytical recovery for homoharringtonine was 99.5%. The within-run precision and between-run precision were both less than 11%. The method is equally applicable for plasma or serum, and it has been demonstrated to be applicable for study of the pharmacokinetics of homoharringtonine in patients suffering from acute non-lymphocytic leukaemia.     

Residue analysis of ethylenethiourea in vegetables by high-performance liquid chromatography with amperometric detection

Summary A method for the residue analysis of ethylenethiourea (ETU) in vegetables by HPLC with amperometric detection was developed. ETU was separated with Nucleosil C₁₈ as stationary phase and methanol-water (5:95, v/v) containing 0.05 mol/l ammonium acetate as eluent. The voltage of the working electrode (glassy carbon) was set at +1150 mV vs. Ag/AgCl. The limit of detection for ETU was found to be 0.3 ng. The method was applied to the determination of trace amounts of ETU in tomatoes and cucumbers. The minimum quantitation level was 0.01 ppm. The method can be performed easily; it is selective and highly sensitive.     

New analytical possibilities of amperometric detection in high-performance liquid chromatography

It is demonstrated that sugars can be determined with high sensitivity by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with amperometric detection using domestic instruments. Optimal conditions of the detection of catecholamines were selected; obtained detection limits provide the determination of these compounds in biological fluids. Conditions of the simultaneous separation of most familiar narcotics by HPLC on one column with high precision and low detection limit were optimized. Presented at the V All-Russian Conference with the Participation of CIS Countries on Electrochemical Methods of Analysis (EMA-99), Moscow, December 6–8, 1999.     

The electrolytic efficiency of amperometric detection in normal-phase high-performance liquid chromatography

The electrolytic efficiency of the wall-jet detector in normal-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (between 0.1 and 5%) is significantly less than its efficiency in reversed-phase separations. A large-volume wall-jet cel with a Ag/Ag⁺ reference serves as the detector system in evaluating the effects of various chromatographic conditions on efficiency. Anthraquinone, phenanthrenaquinone (both at 10^-3–10^-4 M) and three estrogen gen steroids (at 10^-2–10^-3 M) are used as samples with ethanol/ hexane eluents. The effect of pH depends on the sample; increased ethanol concentrations and lower flow rates improve the efficiency.     

Sensitive high-performance liquid chromatography method of non-polar ginsenosides by alkaline-enhanced pulsed amperometric detection

We determined the minute amount of non-polar ginsenosides in red ginseng with a reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography-pulsed amperometric detection (RP-HPLC-PAD) method. Non-polar ginsenosides efficiently extracted by ethyl acetate were well separated in 40 min using a water–acetonitrile gradient eluent and detected by PAD under NaOH alkaline conditions. The ginsenoside detection limits (S/N = 3) were 0.03–0.10 ng. The coefficients of linear regression were 0.9972–0.9990. Intra- and inter-day precision (RSDs) was less than 8.34% and average recovery was 98.06–102.73%. The total amount of non-polar ginsenosides in hairy root of red ginseng was slightly higher than in the main root.     

Quantitative determination of indapamide in pharmaceuticals and urine by high-performance liquid chromatography with amperometric detection.

A high-performance liquid chromatographic method with amperometric detection for the determination of the diuretic indapamide using a muBondapak C18 column is developed. The mobile phase consists of an acetonitrile-water mixture (45:55, 5 mM) in KH2PO4-K2HPO4 (pH 4.0). The compound is monitored at +1200 mV with an amperometric detector equipped with a glassy carbon working electrode. A liquid-liquid or solid-liquid extraction is performed prior to chromatographic analysis to avoid the interferences found in urine matrix. Percentages of recovery are 88.3 +/- 5.6 and 82.9 +/- 7.8 for liquid-liquid and solid-liquid extraction, respectively. The developed method has a linear concentration range from 25 to 315 ng/mL with a reproducibility in terms of relative standard deviation of 4% for a concentration level of 0.5 microgram/mL and a quantitation limit of 1 ng/mL. The method is applied to the determination of indapamide in tablets and urine obtained from hypertensive patients after the ingestion of Tertensif (indapamide 2.5 mg).     

Structural influences on the amperometric detection of opiates in high-performance liquid chromatography

The oxidation reactions of a series of opiates occurring at a glassy-carbon electrode in amperometric high-performance liquid chromatographic detection has been investigated. A structure-reactivity correlation has been drawn for morphone, morphinan and benzomorphan derivatives. Polarography and hydrodynamic voltammography were used to show the importance of phenolic groups to this reaction. Acyl substitution on the phenol did not prevent amperometric detection.     

The amperometric detection of thyroid hormones following reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography

The principle of an assay of the major thyroid hormones by an electrochemical technique is demonstrated. The separation of 3,3',5-triiodothyronine, 3,3',5'-triiodothyronine, and thyroxine, by reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography is followed by their electrochemical oxidation in a thin-layer electrochemical detection cell with a low-temperature isotropic carbon working electrode. The limits of detection found were in the subnanogram range with linear response in the ranges 0–125 ng for T₃ and 0–500 ng for T₄. The approach makes the simultaneous assay of total serum thyroid hormones feasible.     

Quantitation of nine quinolones in chicken tissues by high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection

A simple reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic method was developed and validated for simultaneous analysis of nine quinolones (ciprofloxacin, danofloxacin, difloxacin, enrofloxacin, flumequine, marbofloxacin, nalidixic acid, oxolinic acid, sarafloxacin) in chicken tissue. The analytes were extracted from homogenized muscle using an acetonitrile basic solution. After centrifugation and partial evaporation, direct injection was possible. Three different HPLC conditions were applied to quantify the residual quinolones. Separation was achieved on a PLRP-S column and detection was performed with a monochromator fluorescence detector. The recovery, the limit of detection, the limit of quantification, the accuracy and the precision of the method were evaluated from spiked tissue samples at concentration levels ranging from 15 microg kg(-1) to 300 microg kg(-1) according to the maximum residue limit of each quinolone. This method is also suitable for porcine, bovine, ovine and fish muscle tissue.     

Improved determination of taurine by high-performance anion-exchange chromatography with integrated pulsed amperometric detection (HPAEC-IPAD)

The advantages of the high selectivity of high-performance anion-exchange chromatography (HPAEC) and the sensitive response of taurine at a gold electrode with integrated pulsed amperometric detection (IPAD) have been combined, in order to establish a new analytical method for its determination in real matrices. Potential-time settings of the potential waveform were optimized in order to get the highest amperometric response. The separation of taurine in milk samples was achieved using an alkaline eluent (100 mM NaOH) containing 1 mM Ba(OAc)₂ and a column temperature of 15 °C. The inherent merits of using a barium-modified eluent, in terms of taurine separation and detection, are demonstrated. The enhancement in sensitivity under these experimental conditions makes it suitable for taurine determination in milk. Indeed, this method allows high recovery of taurine and satisfies the necessary requirements with respect to accuracy, repeatability and sensitivity with a detection limit of 50 nmol/L, which corresponds to 2.5 pmol. The taurine content in milk samples of some common mammals was evaluated, including human milk. In goats milk, the taurine content ranged from 46 to 91 mg/L, whereas human and buffalo milk samples exhibited an average content of 18 mg/L and 23 mg/L, respectively.     

Determination of aminosaccharides by high-performance anion-exchange chromatography with pulsed amperometric detection

High-performance anion-exchange chromatography (HPAC) was used for the determination of aminosaccharides in microbial polymers, chitin, animal waste, sewage sludge, plant residues and soil. The aminosaccharides, galactosamine, mannosamine and glucosamine were separated on a strong anion-exchange column with 1OmM sodium hydroxide as the eluent and determined by pulsed amperometric detection (PAD). The HPAC-PAD methodology was compared with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with refractive index detection (RI) in terms of selectivity and sensitivity for aminosaccharides. The results indicate that HPAC-PAD required less sample preparation, and was more precise and nearly two orders of magnitude more sensitive than HPLC-RI. HPAC-PAD was not subject to matrix interferences and was highly selective for aminosaccharides. More than 3% of the total nitrogen in alfalfa, and 20% of that in straw, was found to be present as aminosaccharides.