Application of nonaqueous capillary electrophoresis for quantitative analysis of quinolizidine alkaloids in Chinese herbs

An easy, rapid method for simultaneous determination of tetrandrine (TET), fangchinoline (FAN), sinomenine (SIN) and tetrahydropalmatine (TEP) in Chinese herbs was developed by nonaqueous capillary electrophoresis without pretreatment for the first time. Optimum separation was achieved with a fused-silica capillary column ( i.d.) and a running buffer containing 50 mM ammonium acetate, 1.0% acetic acid and 20% acetonitrile in methanol medium. The applied voltage was 20.0 kV. The analytes were detected by UV at 214 nm. The effects of concentration of ammonium acetate, acetic acid and organic modifier on electrophoretic behavior of the analytes were studied. Regression equations revealed linear relationships (correlation coefficients: 0.9991-0.9999) between the peak area of each analyte and the concentration. The levels of analytes in Stephania tetrandra S. Moore, Rhizoma corydalis and Sinomenium acutum Rehd. et. Wils were easily determined with recoveries ranging from 96 to 107%.     

Cloud point extraction preconcentration for capillary electrophoresis of metal ions

The application of the cloud point extraction (CPE) technique for capillary electrophoresis (CE) determination of metal ions was demonstrated using Cu(II) and Co(II) as model metal ions. The preconcentration of Cu(II) and Co(II) in aqueous solution was achieved by CPE with 1-(2-pyridylazo)-2-naphthol (PAN) as the chelating agent and Triton X-114 as the extractant. Baseline separation of the PAN chelates of Cu(II) and Co(II) was realized by CE with a photodiaode array detector in a  μm i.d. fused-silica capillary at 17 kV. A 50 mM NH₄Ac buffer solution (pH 8.0) containing 0.2 mM of PAN in 80% (v/v) of acetonitrile and 20% (v/v) doubly deionized water (DDW) was used as the separation medium to avoid the adsorption of hydrophobic substances and nonionic surfactant Triton X-114 onto the inner surface of the separation capillary, ensuring the separation efficiency and reproducibility. The precision (relative standard deviation (R.S.D.), n=5) for five replicate injections of a mixture of 20 μg/l of Co(II) and Cu(II) were 0.74 and 1.8% for the migration time, 3.1 and 0.64% for the peak area measurement, respectively. The apparent concentration factor, which is defined as the concentration ratio of the analyte in the final diluted surfactant-rich extract ready for CE separation and in the initial solution, was 15.9 for Co(II) and 16.3 for Cu(II). The linear concentration range was from 3 to 100 μg/l for both Co(II) and Cu(II). The detection limits of Co(II) and Cu(II) were 0.12 and 0.26 μg/l, respectively. The developed method was successfully applied to the determination of Co(II) and Cu(II) in tap water, snow water, and flavor wines.     

Determination of sulfur-containing amino acids by capillary electrophoresis dynamic reaction cell inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

Capillary electrophoresis dynamic reaction cell™ inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (CE-DRC-ICP-MS) for the determination of sulfur-containing amino acids is described. The sulfur-containing amino acids studied include l-cysteine, l-cystine, dl-homocystine and l-methionine. The species studied were well separated using a 70 cm length×75 μm i.d. fused silica capillary while the applied voltage was set at +22 kV and a 10 mmol l⁻¹ disodium tetraborate buffer (pH 9.8) containing 0.1 mmol l⁻¹ EDTA and 0.5 mmol l⁻¹ Triton X-100 was used as the electrophoretic buffer. The sulfur-selective electropherogram was determined at m/z 48 as by using its reaction with O₂ in the reaction cell. The method avoided the effect of polyatomic isobaric interferences at m/z 32 caused by and on by detecting as the oxide ion at m/z 48, which is less interfered. The detection limit of various species studied was in the range of 0.047-0.058 μg S ml⁻¹, which corresponded to the absolute detection limit of 1.3-1.6 pg S based on the injection volume of 27 nl. We determined the concentrations of selected sulfur-containing amino acids in urine and nutritive complement samples. The recovery was in the range of 92-128% for various species.     

On-line preconcentration of palladium on alumina microcolumns and determination in urban waters by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

A method for on-line preconcentration of palladium at ultra-trace level on alumina microcolumns and determination by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) has been developed. A sampling time of 10 min (30 ml) and an eluent (KCN) volume of 300 μl provides a limit of detection of 1 ng l⁻¹. The precision was 4% at the 25 ng l⁻¹ level. The proposed system allows the on-line removal of the primary interferents (Cu and Y) providing the credible accuracy of the results. The proposed method is suitable for palladium determination in urban water samples. Platinum concentration in the analysed urban water samples was also determined.     

Non-aqueous capillary zone electrophoresis method for the analysis of paroxetine, tamoxifen, and their main metabolites in urine

The potential of non-aqueous capillary electrophoresis (NACE) was investigated for the simultaneous separation of paroxetine, tamoxifen, and their main metabolites. Baseline separation of the studied solutes was obtained on a  μm capillary using a non-aqueous buffer composed of 18 mM ammonium acetate and 1.1% acetic acid in 80:20 (v/v) methanol-acetonitrile, with a temperature and voltage of 22 °C and 15 kV, respectively. Clomipramine was used as internal standard. Aspects such as stability of the solutions, linearity, accuracy, precision and ruggedness were examined in order to validate the proposed method. Detection limits obtained for all the studied compounds ranged between 3.0 and 7.1 μg l⁻¹. The developed method is sensitive and robust and was used to determine paroxetine, tamoxifen, and their metabolites at clinically relevant levels in human urine. Before NACE determination, the samples were purified and enriched by means of an extraction-pre-concentration step with a pre-conditioned C₁₈ cartridge. Determination of these analytes in the urine of four females urines was demonstrated.     

Analysis of primary aliphatic short-chain monoamines by LC in water samples

Several derivatization procedures with o-phthaldialdehyde-N-acetylcysteine (OPA-NAC) were compared for a rapid analysis of primary aliphatic short-chain monoamines in water samples by HPLC using a LiChorospher analytical separation column (100RP₁₈ mm i.d., 5 μm). Both the solution and the solid-support assisted off-line derivatization on C₁₈ SPE cartridges were inadequate options because of beginning degradation processes of the instable isoindol derivatives during their transfer to the analytical column. This problem was precluded with the on-column or solid-support assisted on-line derivatization. In the last mentioned procedure, the derivatization took place in a Hypersil C₁₈ precolumn ( mm i.d., 30 μm) connected with an additional preconcentration step resulting in better detection limits (0.002-0.040 μg ml⁻¹ requiring only 150 μl of water sample) than in the on-column procedure (0.08-0.16 μg ml⁻¹). The improved sample handling, the better control of parameters affecting reaction rates, the fully automation of this method with only 10 min analysis time for each sample are further advantageous. The potential of the solid-support assisted on-line derivatization was outlined and applied to water samples from several sources. Recovery values near 100% were obtained.     

Separation of fluoroquinolones in acidic buffer by capillary electrophoresis with contactless conductivity detection

A method to determine five fluoroquinolones (FQs), namely, rufloxacin (RUF), ciprofloxacin (CIP), enrofloxacin (ENO), gatifloxacin (GAT) and moxifloxacin (MOX), in acidic buffer by capillary electrophoresis (CE)-capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detection (C⁴D) technique is presented. Separation was carried out in a fused-silica capillary (42 cm × 50 μm) using a buffer composed of 10 mM tartaric acid, 14 mM sodium acetate and 15% (v/v) methanol at pH 3.8. The RSDs of the migration times and peak areas were 0.65% and 12.3% (intraday), 1.28% and 8.8% (interday), respectively. CE-C⁴D in combination with liquid–liquid extraction (LLE) as clean-up and preconcentration procedure, allows detection of the FQs in fortified chicken muscle samples with detection limits of 6.8–11.7 ng/g. This method shows potential in rapid determination of FQs in samples with complex matrix.     

Strategies for the on-line preconcentration and separation of hypolipidaemic drugs using micellar electrokinetic chromatography

Three strategies were investigated for the simultaneous separation and on-line preconcentration of charged and neutral hypolipidaemic drugs in micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC). A background electrolyte (BGE) consisting of 20 mM ammonium bicarbonate buffer (pH 8.50) and 50 mM sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) was used for the separation and on-line preconcentration of the drugs. The efficiencies of sweeping, analyte focusing by micelle collapse (AFMC), and simultaneous field-amplified sample stacking (FASS) and sweeping, were compared for the preconcentration of eight hypolipidaemic drugs in different conductivity sample matrices. When compared with a hydrodynamic injection (5 s at 50 mbar, 0.51% of capillary volume to detection window) of drug mixture prepared in the separation BGE, improvements of detection sensitivity of 60-, 83-, and 80-fold were obtained with sweeping, AFMC and simultaneous FASS and sweeping, respectively, giving limits of detection (LODs) of 50, 36, and 38 μg/L, respectively. The studied techniques showed suitability for focusing different types of analytes having different values of retention factor (k). This is the first report for the separation of different types of hypolipidaemic drugs by capillary electrophoresis (CE). The three methods were validated then applied for the analysis of target analytes in wastewater samples from Hobart city.     

Scintillating polymer inclusion membrane for preconcentration and determination of α-emitting actinides

The scintillating polymer inclusion membrane (S-PIM) was developed for preconcentration and determination of α-emitting actinides from aqueous solution. The preparation of S-PIM involved physical immobilization of an extractant bis(2-ethylhexyl)phosphoric acid, primary scintillator 2,5-diphenyloxazole, and secondary scintillator 1,4-bis(2-methylstyryl)benzene in the plasticized cellulose triacetate matrix. The S-PIM was found to be effective for the quantitative sorption (94-98%) of trivalent lanthanides/actinides (, and ), tetravalent actinides (Pu(IV)) and hexavalent actinides (U(VI)) from the aqueous solutions whose acidity had been adjusted to pH 2.5, 1.0 and 0.25 mol/L, respectively with dilute HNO₃. The interference of β-emitting lanthanides, in preconcentration and determination of α-emitting actinides using S-PIM, were also studied. The α-scintillation counting efficiency in the S-PIM was found to be 92-95% after discriminating the background noise. However, β-scintillation counting efficiency was found to be in the range of 12-25% depending upon the energy of β-particles. It was observed that β-scintillation pulses from and could be discriminated based on pulse height analysis. Thus, α-activities of the actinides sorbed in the sample of S-PIM could be directly measured in the presence of β-emitters by scintillation counting. However, the α-scintillation counting efficiency was reduced to 38% after discriminating β-scintillation pulses in the S-PIM. The preconcentration ability of S-PIM was examined in tap water and seawater spiked with . The total α-activity of 46 Bq (present in 100 mL) could be preconcentrated and measured from tap water using S-PIM.     

Determination of chromium, cadmium and lead in food-packaging materials by axial inductively coupled plasma time-of-flight mass spectrometry

Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) with a time-of-flight (TOF) analyser was used for the determination of chromium, cadmium and lead in six food-packaging materials (paper and paper board). The samples (0.20-0.25 g) were digested in concentrated nitric acid in a high pressure microwave oven at 180 °C within 15 min. Two different plasma conditions were applied: cool plasma conditions (0.76 kW; 0.85, 0.89 and 15.5 l min⁻¹ nebuliser, auxiliary and plasma gas flow rate, respectively) for the determination of chromium and normal plasma conditions (1.21 kW; 0.66, 0.68 and 13.6 l min⁻¹ nebuliser, auxiliary and plasma gas flow rate, respectively) for the determination of cadmium and lead. External calibration was used in combination with rhodium (40 ng g⁻¹) as an internal standard. The detection limits (DL = 3S.D./sensitivity) under the conditions used corresponded to 0.01 ng g⁻¹ (), 0.06 ng g⁻¹ (), 0.07 ng g⁻¹ (), 0.03 ng g⁻¹ () and 0.02 ng g⁻¹ ( and ). The precision (R.S.D.) for six replicate determinations (10 s integration time) of 1 and 10 ng g⁻¹ of each analyte varied from 0.72% () to 4.43% (). The contents of chromium, cadmium and lead in the examined materials were evaluated using the signals of , and . They were in the range: 0.25-0.50 μg g⁻¹ for Cr, not detected (nd) to 0.12 μg g⁻¹ for Cd and 0.28-0.35 μg g⁻¹ for Pb in paper and 0.50-0.64 μg g⁻¹ for Cr, nd to 0.09 μg g⁻¹ for Cd and 0.67-0.99 μg g⁻¹ for Pb in paper board.     

Cold vapor generation interface for mercury speciation coupling capillary electrophoresis with electrothermal quartz tube furnace atomic absorption spectrometry: Determination of mercury and methylmercury

A novel on-line coupled capillary electrophoresis (CE) cold vapor generation (CVG) with electrothermal quartz tube furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (EQTF-AAS) system for mercury speciation has been developed. The mercury species (inorganic mercury and methylmercury) were completely separated by CE in a 80 cm length × 100 μm i.d. fused-silica capillary at 20 kV and using a buffer of 100 mM boric acid and 10% (v/v) methanol (pH 8.30). The effects of the inner diameter of quartz tube, the acidity of HCl, the NaBH₄ concentration and N₂ flow rate on Hg signal intensity were investigated. Speciation of mercury was highlighted using CE-CVG-EQTF-AAS. The detection limits of methylmercury and mercury were 0.035 and 0.027 μg mL⁻¹, respectively. The precisions (RSDs) of peak height for six replicate injections of a mixture of 10 μg mL⁻¹ (as Hg) were better than 4%. The interface was used for speciation analysis of mercury in dry goldfish muscle.     

Determination of urinary oxidative DNA damage marker 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine and the association with cigarette smoking

8-hydroxy-2′-deoxyguanosine (8OHdG) has been widely used as a biomarker of oxidative DNA damage in both animal models and human studies. To evaluate the effect of cigarette smoking on oxidative stress, we studied the levels of urinary 8OHdG from smokers and non-smokers and investigated the association with cigarette smoking. The urinary 8OHdG concentrations were determinated by capillary electrophoresis with end-column amprometric detection (CE-AD) after a single-step solid phase extraction (SPE), and then quantitatively expressed as a function of creatinine excretion. To increase the concentration sensitivity, a dynamic pH junction was used and the focusing effect was obvious when using 30 mM phosphate (pH 6.50) as sample matrix. The limit of detection is 4.3 nM (signal-to-noise ratio S/N=3). The relative standard deviation (R.S.D.) was 1.1% for peak current, and 2.3% for migration time. Based on the selected CE-AD method, it was found that the mean value of urinary 8OHdG levels in the smokers significantly higher than that in non-smokers ( versus , P=0.0004; creatinine versus creatinine, P=0.028).     

Enantiomeric analysis of rivastigmine in pharmaceuticals by cyclodextrin-modified capillary zone electrophoresis

Chiral separation method development is usually very time-consuming due to the diversity in chemical structures of pharmaceutical drug substances as well as the suitable separation conditions and the problem to choose the appropriate chiral selector. This paper shows capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) which was developed for chiral separation of a basic compound - rivastigmine (RIV) using 30 cm × 50 μm i.d. polyacrylamide (PAA)-coated fused-silica capillary (effective length 20 cm), amine-modified phosphate buffer of pH 2.5 and sulfated-β-CD (S-β-CD) as chiral selector. Other selected native or derivatized cyclodextrins (CDs) were also tested: β-CD (5, 30 mM), carboxymethyl-β-CD (5, 30 mM), dimethyl-β-CD (15 mM), hydroxypropyl-β-CD (5, 30 mM), hydroxypropyl-α-CD (5, 30 mM) and hydroxypropyl-γ-CD (5, 30 mM). Complete enantiomeric separation of RIV was achieved at 20 kV, 18 °C and detection at 200 nm within 8 min with R.S.D. for the absolute migration time reproducibility of less than 2.1%. Rectilinear calibration range was 5.0-500.0 μM of each enantiomer (r = 0.9994-0.9995). The CZE method proposed was used for the control of chiral purity of pharmaceutically active S-RIV and for the analysis of Exelon caps preparation.     

Determination of phenols by flow injection and liquid chromatography with on-line quinine-sensitized photo-oxidation and quenched luminol chemiluminescence detection

An on-line quinine-sensitized photo-oxidation with quenched chemiluminescence (CL) detection method is developed for phenols using flow injection (FI) and liquid chromatography (LC). This detection method is based on the decrease of light emission from the luminol CL reaction due to the photo-oxidation of phenols that scavenge the photogenerated reactive oxygen species (e.g. singlet oxygen () and superoxide (O₂⁻)). On-line photo-oxidation is achieved using a coil photo-reactor made from fluoroethylene-propylene copolymer tubing ( mm i.d.) coiled around a mercury UV lamp. A buffer of pH 7 and a concentration of 350 μM for quinine sulfate are determined optimum for the sensitized photo-oxidation. Using a carrier system flow rate of 60 μl/min, calibration curves taken by FI for 10 phenolic compounds in aqueous solutions showed this decreasing sensitivity order: 4-chlorophenol, phenol, 4-nitrophenol, 3-hydroxy-l-kynurenine, 2-nitrophenol, salicylate, 3-nitrophenol, catechol, 2,4-dinitrophenol, and 2,4-dichlorophenol. This detection method using two tandem coil photo-reactors is also applied for the LC separation of phenol, 4-nitrophenol and 4-chlorophenol on an octadecyl (C18) silica LC column using acetonitrile-H₂O (40:60, v/v) as a mobile phase. The quenched CL detection limits (about 1 μM or 20 pmol) for phenol and 4-chlorophenol are comparable to those for UV detection at 254 nm. Some selectivity in the quenched CL detection is evident by no interference in the FI phenol response even when benzaldehyde and phenethanol concentrations are 8 and 15 times that of phenol.     

A new fluorescent metal sensor with two binding moieties

A new fluorescent chelator Oxa, having two metal-binding sites, was designed and synthesized in six steps. Oxa exhibited two distinctive dissociation constants for Zn²⁺ ( μM and  μM), with considerable fluorescence increase in aqueous buffer at pH 7.2. Affinities of Oxa for the other biologically important ions such as Ca²⁺ ( μM and  mM) and Mg²⁺ ( μM and could not be determined) in the same conditions were also obtained.     

A new fluorogenic calix[4]arene N-dansylcarboxamide in the cone conformation for selective optical recognition of mercury(II)

A novel fluorogenic calix[4]arene dansylcarboxamide in the cone conformation has been synthesized as the disodium salt and employed in optical recognition of mercury(II). In extraction from aqueous solutions with high content of competing Na⁺ (C_Na+ ∼0.1 M; pH 5.0, acetate buffer) into CHCl₃, the fluoroionophore allowed for detection of 8.0 × 10⁻⁷ M Hg²⁺ (1:1 complex; ) with high selectivity over many other relevant metal ions.     

Enantiomeric analysis of methotrexate in pharmaceuticals by cyclodextrin-modified capillary electrophoresis

A capillary electrophoresis for the chiral separation of racemic methotrexate (rac-MTX) was developed and validated. The two enantiomers were separated by using fused-silica capillary and a running buffer containing phosphate and hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (HP-β-CD). Several parameters were studied, including concentration and pH of phosphate buffer, separation voltage, and type and concentration of CD. The quantitative ranges were 12.5-200.0 μM for each enantiomer. The intra- and inter-day relative standard deviations (R.S.D.) and relative errors (R.E.) (n=5) were all <5%. The detection limits were found to be about 4 μM (S/N=3, injection 5 s) at 280 nm. All recoveries were greater than 93%. This method was applied to the assay of l-MTX in pharmaceuticals.     

Determination of aminoglutethimide enantiomers in pharmaceutical formulations by capillary electrophoresis using methylated-β-cyclodextrin as a chiral selector and computational calculation for their respective inclusion complexes

A capillary electrophoretic method for the separation of the aminoglutethimide (AGT) enantiomers using methylated-β-cyclodextrin (M-β-CD) as chiral selector is described. Several parameters affecting the separation were studied, including the type and concentration of chiral selector, buffer pH, voltage and temperature. Good chiral separation of the racemic mixture was achieved in less than 9 min with resolution factor Rs = 2.1, using a fused-silica capillary and a background electrolyte (BGE) of tris-phosphate buffer solution (50 mmol L⁻¹, pH 3.0) containing 30 mg mL⁻¹ of M-β-CD. The separation was carried out in normal polarity mode at 25 °C, 16 kV and using hydrostatic injection. Acceptable validation criteria for selectivity, linearity, precision, and accuracy/recovery were included. The proposed method was successfully applied to the assay of AGT enantiomers in pharmaceutical formulations. The computational calculations for the inclusion complexes of the R- and S-AGT-M-β-CD rationalized the reasons for the different migration times between the AGT enantiomers.