Modeling of ion-exclusion and vacancy ion-exclusion chromatography in analytical and concentration overload conditions

Ion-exclusion chromatography (IEC) finds applications in various different analytical separations of weak acids. Pure, deionized water or a diluted, aqueous solution of a strong mineral acid (such as, e.g., sulphuric acid) is used as the mobile phase, whereas a typical stationary phase is a strongly acidic resin in the H(+) form (e.g., the sulfonated polystyrene-divinylbenzene resin with a high ion-exchange capacity, provided by the sulfonic acid groups). When pure water is used as the mobile phase, then the characteristic leading (i.e., frontally tailing) peaks are obtained, and the retention depends mainly on the concentration of the analyte. An alternative technique is vacancy ion-exclusion chromatography (v-IEC), in which the column is equilibrated with the sample solution, flowing as the mobile phase through the system, and pure water is injected as the sample. In this case, the symmetrical vacant peaks are obtained. The aim of this paper is to describe the retention mechanism in IEC and v-IEC for the adsorptive and nonadsorptive acids in analytical and concentration overload conditions, with pure water and the diluted sulphuric acid solution as the two different mobile phases. The retention times and the peak shapes predicted by the derived equations remain in a good qualitative and quantitative agreement with the experimental data. The model proposed in this paper predicts the new features characteristic of IEC for the adsorptive acids. These are, namely, an increase in the retention time of the peak apexes (up to a certain level and concurring with an increase in the acid concentration), followed by a subsequent decrease of the retention time (with the further growth of the acid concentration in the eluent). Similar changes in the retention time observed for v-IEC in the specific adsorption conditions were also correctly predicted by the model.     

Comparison of Reversed Stationary Phases for the Chromatographic Separation of Inorganic Analytes Using Hydrophobic Ion Mobile Phase Additives

Abstract

Alkyl-modified silica (RSi) and polystyrenedivinylbenzene (PRP-1) stationary phases are compared for the chromatographic separation of inorganic analyte anions and cations using hydro-phobic ions of opposite charge as mobile phase additives. Tetra-alkylammonium salts were used for anion separations and alkyl sulfonate salts for cation separations. Two major equilibria influence the retention of analyte ions on PRP-1. These are: retention of the hydrophobic ion on PRP-1 and an ion exchange selectivity between the hydrophobic counterion and the analyte ion. When using RSi retention is also influenced by ion exchange at residual silanol groups, which act as weak cation exchange sites. Mobile and stationary phase variables that influence analyte retention are identified. Optimization of these provides favorable eluting conditions for the separation of inorganic ionic analytes. Of particular interest is the potential use of PRP-1 and RSi columns for the separation of inorganic cations; conditions for the separation of alkali metals and alkaline earths are discussed.     

Influence of inorganic mobile phase additives on the retention, efficiency and peak symmetry of protonated basic compounds in reversed-phase liquid chromatography

Inorganic eluent additives affect the retention of protonated basic analytes in reversed-phase HPLC. This influence is attributed to the disruption of the analyte solvation-desolvation equilibria in the mobile phase, also known as "chaotropic effect". With an increase of counteranion concentration analyte retention increases with concomitant decrease in the tailing factor. Different inorganic counteranions at equimolar concentrations affect protonated basic analyte retention and peak symmetry to varying degrees. The effect of the concentrations of four different inorganic mobile phase additives (KPF6, NaClO4, NaBF4, NaH2PO4) on the analyte retention, peak symmetry, and efficiency on a C8-bonded silica column has been studied. The analytes used in this study included phenols, toluene, benzyl amines, beta-blockers and ophthalmic drugs. The following trend in increase of basic analyte retention factor and decrease of tailing factor was found: PF6- > ClO4- approximately BF4- > H2PO4-. With the increase of the counteranion concentration greater analyte loading could be achieved and consequently an increase in the apparent efficiency was observed until the maximum plate number for the column was achieved. At the highest concentration of counteranions, the peak efficiency for most of the basic compounds studied was similar to that of the neutral markers. In contrast, the neutral markers, such as phenols, showed no significant changes in retention, efficiency or loading capacity as counteranion concentration was increased.     

Peak capacity in gradient reversed-phase liquid chromatography of biopolymers. Theoretical and practical implications for the separation of oligonucleotides

Reversed-phase ultra-performance liquid chromatography was used for biopolymer separations in isocratic and gradient mode. The gradient elution mode was employed to estimate the optimal mobile phase flow rate to obtain the best column efficiency and the peak capacity for three classes of analytes: peptides, oligonucleotides and proteins. The results indicate that the flow rate of the Van Deemter optimum for 2.1 mm I.D. columns packed with a porous 1.7 microm C18 sorbent is below 0.2 mL/min for our analytes. However, the maximum peak capacity is achieved at flow rates between 0.15 and 1.0 mL/min, depending on the molecular weight of the analyte. The isocratic separation mode was utilized to measure the dependence of the retention factor on the mobile phase composition. Constants derived from isocratic experiments were utilized in a mathematical model based on gradient theory. Column peak capacity was predicted as a function of flow rate, gradient slope and column length. Predicted peak capacity trends were compared to experimental results.     

磷酸根离子在阴离子交换树脂上的保留行为及其机理探讨

首次发现磷酸根离子在阴离子交换柱上以两个色谱峰流出。在研究磷酸根离子的保留行为的基础上,提出了Ｈ２ＰＯ－４在固定相中进一步离解的保留机理,即Ｈ２ＰＯ－４在与阴离子交换树脂交换基进行离子交换的过程中,由于树脂交换基和淋洗离子的电荷相互作用促使一部分Ｈ２ＰＯ－４进行第２级离解。由于Ｈ２ＰＯ－４和ＨＰＯ２－４在阴离子交换树脂上的保留值不同,导致磷酸根离子出现“双峰”。     

Effect of the mobile phase on the retention behaviour of optical isomers of carboxylic acids and amino acids in liquid chromatography on bonded Teicoplanin columns

Conditions for separation of enantiomers of underivatized amino acids phenyl glycine and tryptophan and of mandelic acid as test compounds were studied on a Chirobiotic T column packed with amphoteric glycopeptide Teicoplanin covalently bonded to the surface of silica gel. The effects of the mobile phase composition on the retention and selectivity under analytical conditions, on the profile of the adsorption isotherms of the enantiomers and on the overloaded separation were investigated. The concentration of ethanol or of methanol in aqueous-organic mobile phases and the pH of the mobile phase affect not only the retention and selectivity, the saturation capacity and the isotherm profile, but also the solubility of the acids, which should be taken into account in development of preparative separations. A compromise between the separation selectivity and the solubility should be made in selecting the mobile phase suitable to accomplish preparative separations at acceptable production rate and throughput of the operation.     

Effect of Column Temperature on the Retention of Inorganic Anions and Organic Acids in Non-Suppressed Anion-Exchange IC

An investigation has been conducted into the effect of column temperature on the retention of inorganic anions and organic acids in non-suppressed ion chromatography on an anion-exchange column. Potassium biphthalate and p-hydroxybenzoic acid–tris–boric acid were used as mobile phases. The column temperature was from 25 to 50 °C. Endothermic and exothermic retention of inorganic anions were both observed when potassium biphthalate was used as mobile phase. When p-hydroxybenzoic acid–tris–boric acid was used as mobile phase, however, endothermic behavior only was observed. Moreover, for the two mobile phases, variation of the retention time of the system peaks with changing temperature was reversed. For retention of the organic acids, only endothermic behavior was observed with the two mobile phases. Variation of retention time was greater when p-hydroxybenzoic acid–tris–boric acid was used as mobile phase than when potassium biphthalate was used. These results indicated the exchange reaction in anion-exchange chromatography could be either endothermic or exothermic, depending on the solute and mobile phase ions involved. Different relative changes of retention time were observed for individual inorganic anions and organic acids with increasing column temperature. In general, variation of retention time with increasing temperature was greater for strongly retained inorganic anions and organic acids than for weakly retained species. Van’t Hoff plots for inorganic anions, organic acids, and system peaks were linear. Selectivity variation of the retention of inorganic anions and organic acids was achieved by changing the temperature. In achieving optimum separation of inorganic anions and organic acids, temperature was a valuable tool. To reduce the retention times of the ions and avoid interference from system peaks in non-suppressed anion-exchange ion chromatography with the two mobile phases, a low column temperature, for example, 35 °C, was best.     

亲水作用色谱柱与阳离子交换树脂柱结合分离无机离子（英文）

A combination of hydrophilic interaction chromatographic(HILIC) column and a weakly acidic cation-exchange resin(WCX) column was used for simultaneous separation of inorganic anions and cations by ion chromatography(IC).Firstly,the capability of HILIC column for the separation of analyte ions was evaluated under acidic eluent conditions.The columns used were SeQuant ZIC-HILIC(ZIC-HILIC) with a sulfobetaine-zwitterion stationary phase(ZIC-HILIC) and Acclaim HILIC-10 with a diol stationary phase(HILIC-10).When using tartaric acid as the eluent,the HILIC columns indicated strong retentions for anions,based on ion-pair interaction.Especially,HILIC-10 could strongly retain anions compared with ZIC-HILIC.The selectivity for analyte anions of HILIC-10 with 5 mmol/L tartaric acid eluent was in the order of I-> NO-3 > Br-> Cl-> H2PO-4.However,since HILIC-10 could not separate analyte cations,a WCX column(TSKgel Super IC-A/C) was connected after the HILIC column in series.The combination column system of HILIC and WCX columns could successfully separate ten ions(Na+,NH+4,K+,Mg2+,Ca2+,H2PO-4,Cl-,Br-,NO-3 and I-) with elution of 4 mmol/L tartaric acid plus 8 mmol/L 18-crown-6.The relative standard deviations(RSDs) of analyte ions by the system were in the ranges of 0.02%-0.05% in retention times and 0.18%-5.3% in peak areas through three-time successive injections.The limits of detection at signal-to-noise ratio of 3 were 0.24-0.30 μmol/L for the cations and 0.31-1.2 μmol/L for the anions.This system was applied for the simultaneous determination of the cations and the anions in a vegetable juice sample with satisfactory results.     

Vacancy ion-exclusion chromatography of aromatic carboxylic acids on a weakly acidic cation-exchange resin

Determination of aromatic carboxylic acids by conventional ion-exclusion chromatography is relatively difficult and methods generally rely on hydrophobic interaction between the solute and the resin. To overcome the difficulties in determining aromatic carboxylic acids a new approach is presented, termed vacancy ion-exclusion chromatography, which is based on use of the sample as mobile phase and an injection of aqueous 10% methanol onto a weakly acidic cation-exchange column (TSKgel OApak-A). Highly sensitive conductivity detection occurred with sharp and well-shaped peaks, leading to very efficient separations. The effects of sulfuric acid concentration added to the mobile phase, flow-rate, and column temperature on the retention volume of tested aromatic carboxylic acids was investigated. Retention times were found to be affected by the concentration of the analytes in the mobile phase and to some extent also by the addition of an organic modifier such as methanol to the injected water sample. Separation of sulfuric acid (SA), naphthalenetetracarboxylic acid (NTCA), phthalic acid (PA) and benzoic acid (BA) was satisfactory using this new approach. Detection limits were 0.66, 0.67, 0.42 and 0.86 microM and detector responses were linear in the range 1-100, 1-80, 2.5-100 and 10-40 microM, for SA, NTCA, PA and BA, respectively. Precision for retention times was 0.36% and for peak areas was 1.5%.     

Enantioseparation by HPLC Using an Inorganic Chiral Mesoporous Silica with Highly-ordered Structure

Highly-ordered inorganic chiral mesoporous silica(HOCMS) has attracted substantial interest in recent decades. High performance liquid chromatography(HPLC) is the most important approach for the separation of enantiomers and herein reported an HPLC chiral stationary phase composed of HOCMS. The column was fabricated by conventional high pressure slurry packing. Eighteen racemates, including alcohols, ketones, amines, aldehydes and organic acids, were resolved on the column. Good chiral separations of hydrobenzoin, metoprolol, propranolol hydrochloride, 4-methyl-2-pentanol, omeprazole, 2,2'-furoin and ketoprofen were obtained. The relative standard deviations for five replicate separations of racemates were 0.1%-0.16% for retention time and 1.73%-2.64% for peak areas. The results suggest that HOCMS is a promising candidate for preparation of chiral stationary phases for HPLC.     

Sulfonated cyclofructan 6 based stationary phase for hydrophilic interaction chromatography

A stationary phase composed of silica-bonded sulfonated cyclofructan 6 (SCF6) was synthesized and evaluated for hydrophilic interaction chromatography (HILIC). The separation of a large variety of polar compounds was evaluated on different versions of the stationary phase and compared with the same separations obtained with commercially available HILIC columns. The new columns successfully separate polar and hydrophilic compounds including β blockers, xanthines, salicylic acid related compounds, nucleic acid bases, nucleosides, maltooligosaccharides, water soluble vitamins and amino acids. The separation conditions were optimized by changing the composition and the pH of the mobile phase. The dependence of analyte retention on temperature was studied using van't Hoff plots. The newly synthesized stationary phase showed broad applicability for HILIC mode separations.     

Chromatography of substituted benzoic acids with methanol-water-carbon dioxide mixtures.

The impact of the proportion of CO2 concentration in methanol-water-CO2 mobile phases on the separation of several substituted benzoic acids was explored by studying the variation of retention with mobile phase pH in these mixtures. As the amount of CO2 in methanol-aqueous buffer-CO2 mixtures increased, a more basic buffer was needed to control the dissociation of these acids. Differences in terms of retention, separation efficiency and peak asymmetry were shown for substituted benzoic acids with methanol-water-CO2 and methanol-aqueous buffer-CO2 mixtures. Variations of these chromatographic parameters with mobile phase pH were related to the dissociation of these acids and their interaction with methanol-aqueous buffer-CO2 mobile phases and the stationary phase. The addition of a buffer into methanol-aqueous solution-CO2 was an effective means to optimize separations of acidic analytes with high fluidity liquid mobile phases. The substituted benzoic acids had baseline separation in the least amount of time using the high fluidity liquid mobile phases.     

Chiral separation of amines in subcritical fluid chromatography using polysaccharide stationary phases and acidic additives

The chiral separation of basic compounds by subcritical fluid chromatography (SFC) is often unsuccessful, due possibly to multiple interactions of the analyte with the mobile and stationary phase. Incorporation of a strong acid, ethanesulfonic acid (ESA), into the sample diluent and mobile phase modifier gives a dramatic improvement in these separations. Screening with ethanol containing 0.1% ESA on CHIRALPAK AD-H gave separation of 36 of 45 basic compounds previously not separated in SFC. The mechanism appears to involve the separation of an intact salt pair formed between the basic compound and ESA. Other modifiers, other acids and one additional stationary phase were examined and found to yield additional separations.     

Selectivity differences in the separation of amphipathic alpha-helical peptides during reversed-phase liquid chromatography at pHs 2.0 and 7.0: effects of different packings, mobile phase conditions and temperature

In an ongoing effort to understand the effect of varying reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) parameters on the retention behaviour of peptides, necessary for the rational development of separation/optimization protocols, we believe it is important to delineate the contribution of alpha-helical structure to the selectivity of peptide separations. The present study reports the effects of varying column packing, mobile phase conditions and temperature on RP-HPLC retention behaviour at pHs 2.0 and 7.0 of peptides based on the amphipathic peptide sequence Ac-EAEKAAKEXEKAAKEAEK-amide (with position X in the centre of the hydrophobic face of the alpha-helix), where position X is substituted by L- or D-amino acids. At pH 2.0, an increase in trifluoroacetic acid concentration or the addition of sodium perchlorate to a phosphoric acid-based mobile phase had the similar effect of improving peak shape as well as increasing peptide retention time due to ion-pairing effects with the positively-charged peptides; in contrast, at pH 7.0, the addition of salt had little effect save an improvement in peak shape. Temperature was shown to have a complex influence on peptide selectivity due to varying effects on peptide conformation. In addition, subtle effects on peptide selectivity were also noted based on the column packings employed at pHs 2.0 and 7.0.     

pH-zone-refining counter-current chromatography: Origin,mechanism, procedure and applications

Since 1980, high-speed counter-current chromatography (HSCCC) has been used for separation and purification of natural and synthetic products in a standard elution mode. In 1991, a novel elution mode called pH-zone refining CCC was introduced from an incidental discovery that an organic acid in the sample solution formed the sharp peak of an acid analyte. The cause of this sharp peak formation was found to be bromoacetic acid present in the sample solution which formed a sharp trailing border to trap the acidic analyte. Further studies on the separation of DNP-amino acids with three spacer acids in the stationary phase revealed that increased sample size resulted in the formation of fused rectangular peaks, each preserving high purity and zone pH with sharp boundaries. The mechanism of this phenomenon was found to be the formation of a sharp trailing border of an acid (retainer) in the column which moves at a lower rate than that of the mobile phase. In order to facilitate the application of the method, a new method was devised using a set of retainer and eluter to form a sharp retainer rear border which moves through the column at a desired rate regardless of the composition of the two-phase solvent system. This was achieved by adding the retainer in the stationary phase and the eluter in the mobile phase at a given molar ratio. Using this new method the hydrodynamics of pH-zone-refining CCC was diagrammatically illustrated by three acidic samples. In this review paper, typical pH-zone-refining CCC separations were presented, including affinity separations with a ligand and a separation of a racemic mixture using a chiral selector in the stationary phase. Major characteristics of pH-zone-refining CCC over conventional HSCCC are as follows: the sample loading capacity is increased over 10 times; fractions are highly concentrated near saturation level; yield is improved by increasing the sample size; minute charged compounds are concentrated and detected at the peak boundaries; and elution peaks are monitored with a pH flow meter for compounds with no chromophore. Since 1994, over 70 research papers on pH-zone-refining CCC have been published with the trends increasing in the recent years.     

Preparation and ion chromatographic properties of a new core-shell chromatographic support Al2O3/SiO2-10

A new stationary phase Al₂O₃/SiO₂-10 was prepared and characterized by XPS, XRD, SEM and surface analysis. The anion exchanger properties of this new stationary phase were investigated by the separation of inorganic anions in ion chromatography (IC). pH of the mobile phase, concentration and strength of the Lewis base of the elute, and the organic modifier of the mobile phase strongly affect the separation of inorganic anions, and anion exchange selectivities of the analyte on the new support are significantly different from quaternary ammonium styrene based anion exchangers. The result of separation of inorganic anions shows that the new stationary phase provides excellent column efficiency, well-defined chromatographic peaks and favorable retention times.     

Peak shapes in open tubular ion-exchange capillary electrochromatography of inorganic anions

An experimental study of parameters influencing peak shapes in ion-exchange open tubular (OT) capillary electrochromatography (CEC) was conducted using adsorbed quaternary aminated latex particles as the stationary phase. The combination of separation mechanisms from both capillary electrophoresis and ion-exchange chromatography results in peak broadening in OT-CEC arising from both these techniques. The sources of peak broadening that were considered included the relative electrophoretic mobilities of the eluent co-ion and analyte, and resistance to mass transfer in both the mobile and stationary phases. The parameters investigated were the mobility of the eluent co-ion, column diameter, separation temperature and secondary interactions between the analyte and the stationary phase. The electromigration dispersion was found to influence peak shapes to a minor extent, indicating that chromatographic retention was the dominant source of dispersion. Improving the resistance to mass transfer in the mobile phase by decreasing the capillary diameter improved peak shapes, with symmetrical peaks being obtained in a 25 microm I.D. column. However, an increase in temperature from 25 degrees C to 55 degrees C failed to show any significant improvement. The addition of p-cyanophenol to the mobile phase to suppress secondary interactions with the stationary phase did not result in the expected improvement in efficiency.     

The retention behaviour of amino acids in hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography on zwitterionic stationary phases†

The retention behaviour of amino acids was studied in hydrophilic LC on zwitterionic stationary phases. Evaluation of the influences of acetonitrile/water content, ammonium acetate (NH₄Ac) concentration and mobile phase pH values was performed. Fourteen amino acids were tested and they were all retained to varying extents, with poorer retention in high water content eluents. The linear relationship between the logarithm of retention factor and log(water content) indicated that adsorption dominated or at least was partly involved in the separation mechanism. Electrostatic and hydrophilic interactions also contributed to the retention of these amino acids under different separation conditions with various mobile phase pH values and NH₄Ac concentrations. Thus, the overall retention mechanism could be explained as a combination of adsorption, electrostatic and hydrophilic interactions. The magnitude and contribution of each mechanism is dependent on the nature of the analyte and the separation conditions applied.     

Ion-exclusion chromatographic behavior of aliphatic carboxylic acids and benzenecarboxylic acids on a sulfonated styrene--divinylbenzene co-polymer resin column with sulfuric acid containing various alcohols as eluent

The addition of C1-C7 alcohols (methanol, ethanol, propanol, butanol, heptanol, hexanol and heptanol) to dilute sulfuric acid as eluent in ion-exclusion chromatography using a highly sulfonated styrene-divinylbenzene co-polymer resin (TSKgel SCX) in the H+ form as the stationary phase was carried out for the simultaneous separations of both (a) C1-C7 aliphatic carboxylic acids (formic, acetic, propionic, isobutyric, butyric, isovaleric, valeric, 2-methylvaleric, isocaproic, caproic, 2,2-dimethyl-n-valeric, 2-methylhexanoic, 5-methylhexanoic and heptanoic acids) and (b) benzenecarboxylic acids (pyromellitic, hemimellitic, trimellitic, o-phthalic, m-phthalic, p-phthalic, benzoic and salicylic acids and phenol). Heptanol was the most effective modifier in ion-exclusion chromatography for the improvement of peak shapes and a reduction in retention volumes for higher aliphatic carboxylic acids and benzenecarboxylic acids. Excellent simultaneous separation and relatively highly sensitive conductimetric detection for these C1-C7 aliphatic carboxylic acids were achieved on the TSKgel SCX column (150 x 6 mm I.D.) in 30 min using 0.5 mM sulfuric acid containing 0.025% heptanol as eluent. Excellent simultaneous separation and highly sensitive UV detection at 200 nm for these benzenecarboxylic acids were also achieved on the TSKgel SCX column in 30 min using 5 mM sulfuric acid containing 0.075% heptanol as eluent.     

Optimization of separation in two-dimensional high-performance liquid chromatography by adjusting phase system selectivity and using programmed elution techniques

The overall peak capacity in comprehensive two-dimensional liquid chromatographic (LC x LC) separation can be considerably increased using efficient columns and carefully optimized mobile phases providing large differences in the retention mechanisms and separation selectivity between the first and the second dimension. Gradient-elution operation and fraction-transfer modulation by matching the retention and the elution strength of the mobile phases in the two dimensions are useful means to suppress the band broadening in the second dimension and to increase the number of sample compounds separated in LC x LC. Matching parallel gradients in the first and second dimension eliminate the necessity of second-dimension column re-equilibration after the independent gradient runs for each fraction, increase the use of the available second-dimension separation time and can significantly improve the regularity of the coverage of the available retention space in LC x LC separations, especially with the first- and second-dimension systems showing partial selectivity correlations. Systematic development of an LC x LC method with parallel two-dimensional gradients was applied for separation of phenolic acids and flavone compounds. Several types of bonded C18, amide, phenyl, pentafluorophenyl and poly(ethylene glycol) columns were compared using the linear free energy relationship method to find suitable column combination with low correlation of retention of representative standards. The phase systems were optimized step-by-step to find the mobile phases and gradients providing best separation selectivity for phenolic compounds. The optimization of simultaneous parallel gradients in the first and second dimension resulted in significant improvement in the utilization of the available two-dimensional retention space.