Routine reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic measurement of urinary vanillylmandelic acid in patients with neural crest tumors.

A rapid and simple reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic procedure for the determination of vanillylmandelic acid (VMA) is described. This method was applied in the determination of the VMA content in urine from normal subjects and patients with neural crest lesions. Sample preparation is minimal and the analysis is short (20 min) and reproducible. The sensitivity of the UV detection is in the ng range. By this technique, fourteen adult control subjects were found to excrete a mean of 2.86 microgram VMA per mg creatinine, whereas twelve patients with pheochromocytoma excreted a mean of 15.7 microgram VMA per mg creatinine.     

Simultaneous determination of the major acidic metabolites of catecholamines and serotonin in urine by liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection after a one-step sample clean-up on Sephadex G-10; influence of vanilla and banana ingestion

A simple method is described for the simultaneous determination of vanilmandelic acid (VMA), 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DOPAC), 5-hydroxyindole-3-acetic acid (5-HIAA) and homovanillic acid (HVA) in urine. The compounds are isolated by a one-step sample clean-up on Sephadex G-10, separated by ion-pair reversed-phase liquid chromatography and detected electrochemically. A single analysis is completed within 65 min. Sample clean-up did not cause losses of the compounds of interest. The detection limits in urine were 0.4, 0.8, 1.0 and 1.6 mumol/l for VMA, DOPAC, 5-HIAA and HVA, respectively. 3,4-Dihydroxymandelic acid and vanillic acid (VA) were also detectable, but, under the chromatographic conditions used, they were not resolved from interfering components. VA and 5-HIAA could be analysed separately in the Sephadex G-10 eluate if more restrictive sampling conditions were used. Ingestion of bananas caused an increase of VMA, DOPAC, 5-HIAA and HVA in 24-h urine. After ingestion of vanilla an increased excretion of VA was observed, while the excretion of VMA, DOPAC and HVA was unaffected.     

Measurement of plasma vanillylmandelic acid by liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection

A liquid chromatographic method with electrochemical detection is described for measuring plasma 3-methoxy-4-hydroxymandelic acid (VMA). Plasma is deproteinized by gel filtration and VMA is extracted into ethyl acetate, which is evaporated. VMA is oxidized to vanillin, which is purified by toluene extraction and quantified by high-performance liquid chromatography. The recovery of VMA through the entire procedure is 52 +/- 10% (mean +/- S.D., n = 19). The plasma VMA concentration in healthy young volunteers varies between 4.39 and 14.6 ng/ml, a range that is in excellent agreement with data obtained with mass fragmentography.     

Simultaneous determination of 3,4-dihydroxymandelic acid, 4-hydroxy-3-methoxymandelic acid, 3,4-dihydroxyphenylglycol, 4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenylglycol, and their precursors, in human urine by HPLC with electrochemical detection

Summary A method has been developed for the quantification of urinary 3,4-dihydroxymandelic acid (DOMA), 4-hydroxy-3-methoxymandelic acid (VMA), 3,4-dihydroxyphenylglycol (DHPG), and 4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyglycol (MHPG). Separation and determination of these compounds in biological samples was previously thought to be very difficult. In this work the separation has been achieved by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography with step-wise gradient elution with three mobile phases. The conditions for coulometric detection have been optimized for effective determination of these compounds. In analysis of a sample of human urine, after a simple deproteinization proceudre, DOMA, VMA, DHPG, and MHPG were separated from interferences and quantified successfully; the average levels of these compounds in six different samples were 33.87±1.03, 1202±41.3, 31.3±1.92, and 80.6±2.15 μg (24 h)⁻¹, respectively. Their precursors E, MN, DOPA, DA, NE, DOPAC, HVA, 3MT, and NMN, and the indolamine 5HT and its metabolite 5HIAA (a list of abbreviations is given at the end of the paper) can also be determined simultaneously in the same chromatographic run. The overlapping peak of DHPG was resolved by deconvolution.     

Determination of Plasma Pseudo-Ephedrine by Fluorescence Detection and High Performance Liquid Chromatography

Abstract

A sensitive and specific high-performance liquid chromatographic method has been developed for the determination of pseudoephedrine in plasma. The assay was based on the production of a highly fluorescent derivative of pseudoephedrine using 4-chloro-7-nitrobenzo-2, 1, 3-oxadiazole (NBD-Cl) as the derivatization agent. The fluorescent derivatives were separated using normal phase liquid chromatography after an automated, column-switching, sample clean-up procedure. Pseudoephedrine determination was accurate and precise at concentrations as low as 10 nanograms per milliliter of plasma. The chromatographic step separated derivatives of pseudoephedrine from those of norpseudoephedrine and several other amines. Measurement of pseudoephedrine concentrations in plasma following a single 120 milligram oral dose is illustrated.     

Rapid and high-throughput determination of cationic surfactants in environmental water samples by automated on-line polymer monolith microextraction coupled to high performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry

A rapid, high throughput and sensitive method was presented for automated determination of cationic surfactants in environmental water samples. The method was based on an automated analysis platform that was composed of on-line polymer monolith microextraction (PMME) and high performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrum (HPLC-MS) with an autosampler. A poly(methacrylic acid-co-ethylene dimethacrylate) (MAA-co-EDMA) monolith was selected as the sorbent for purification and enrichment of cationic surfactants in environmental water samples while a new mixed-mode chromatographic column packed with octyl and sulfonic acid co-bonded silica (OSS) was employed for separation and quantitative determination of cationic surfactants in water samples. By integrating sample preparation, chromatographic separation and MS detection into one automated platform, it makes the whole analysis procedure simple, accurate, and time and labor-saving. Several parameters affecting the extraction performance were investigated. Under the optimized conditions, the proposed method was applied to the analysis of seven cationic surfactants in environmental water samples. Good linearities were obtained for all cationic surfactants with R2 larger than 0.9895. The limits of detection were found to be in the range of 15-24 ng/L. The method recoveries of the cationic surfactants spiked in water samples were from 80.5% to 115.1%, with relative standard deviations less than 12.4%.     

Determination of Total Sulfur in Soils and Plants by an Automated Dry Combustion Method

Abstract

Determination of total sulfur in environmental samples can be accomplished using automated dry combustion techniques. The analytical performance of an elemental analyzer (CE Instruments) was compared with a method involving dry ashing followed by ion chromatographic detection of sulfate (IC). Samples included certified reference materials, confirmation materials with a known content of sulfur, and several soils and plants. There was a close agreement between both methods. Superior accuracy, precision and detection limits were obtained using the dry combustion method. Current results suggest that the automated dry combustion technique has developed into an adequate method for the determination of the relatively low total sulfur contents commonly encountered in soils and plants.     

Determination of Zy 17617B in plasma by solid-phase extraction and liquid chromatography with automated pre-column exchange.

An automated chromatographic system, combining solid-phase extraction and automated pre-column exchange, is described for the routine determination of Zy 17617B at the pmol/ml level in human plasma. The sample extraction and elution onto the analytical column were performed automatically and concomitantly using a conventional liquid chromatographic apparatus equipped with a Merck OSP-2 on-line sample preparator. Validation data demonstrate the reliability of the method.     

Automated liquid chromatographic determination of ochratoxin A in cereals and animal products using immunoaffinity column clean-up.

The analysis of the fungal mycotoxin ochratoxin A in cereals and animal products is described using an immunoaffinity column clean-up and high-performance liquid chromatographic determination. The clean-up can be carried out manually or using a commercially available automated sample preparation system. The method has been applied to cereals such as wheat, rye and barley, unprocessed breakfast cereals and animal products such as pigs' kidneys and blood sausages. Recoveries ranged from 70-80% for spiked samples (10 micrograms/kg) and the method had a relative standard deviation of 1.3% (n = 8) for the analysis of a wheat sample naturally contaminated at 13.7 micrograms/kg ochratoxin A and relative standard deviation of 3.0% (n = 8) for a pig kidney sample spiked at 10 micrograms/kg ochratoxin A. The immunoaffinity approach was significantly faster than methods employing conventional chromatographic clean-up, and extracts were freer of co-extractives giving a limit of detection of 0.2 micrograms/kg.     

Trace-level determination of 3'-azido-3'-deoxythymidine in human plasma by preconcentration on a silver (I)-thiol stationary phase with on-line reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography

A method was developed for the determination of 3'-azido-3'-deoxythymidine (AZT) in plasma. The method is based on the trace enrichment of AZT on a pre-column packed with a silver-loaded thiol stationary phase at pH 11.6. On-line desorption to the reversed-phase liquid chromatographic system is performed by injecting a plug of 50 microliters of 1 M perchloric acid on the silver (I)-thiol pre-column. Two different sample pretreatment methods - protein precipitation with perchloric acid and on-line clean-up via a polymeric PRP-1 pre-column - were applied for the determination of AZT in human plasma. The latter method allows the direct injection of plasma samples into the analytical system and can therefore easily be automated. With both methods detection limits in the order of 10(-8) M AZT were obtained after preconcentration of 1.0 ml of plasma, using UV detection at 267 nm.     

Determination of drug concentrations in plasma by a highly automated, generic and flexible protein precipitation and liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry method applicable to the drug discovery environment

This report presents a highly automated procedure for the determination of drug concentrations in plasma samples. The method is generic, in that it has been applied without adaptation to many different drug candidate molecules, but is also flexible, in that variations in the nature and number of samples to be analyzed can be readily accommodated. The method includes preparation of dilutions of analyte stock solutions, spiking these into control plasma to generate analytical standards, and preparation of samples suitable for analysis by high-performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC/MS/MS) by precipitation of plasma proteins with acetonitrile, centrifugation, and dilution of the supernatants with HPLC buffer. All of these steps, apart from centrifugation, are performed without manual intervention on an automated liquid-handling workstation using 96-well plates. Analysis is by HPLC/MS/MS, using a generic HPLC gradient. Commercially available software was used for optimization of parameters for analysis by HPLC/MS/MS, integration of chromatographic peaks, and quantification of drug concentrations. The use of this methodology in our laboratory has greatly facilitated the analysis of small sample sets for a large number of analytes, a situation regularly encountered in an early drug discovery environment.     

Determination of urinary normetanephrine, metanephrine and 3-methoxytyramine by high-performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection: comparison between automated column-switching and manual dual-column sample purification methods.

This report describes a high-performance liquid chromatographic method with electrochemical detection for the simultaneous quantitation of urinary metanephrine, normetanephrine and 3-methoxytyramine. This method, which involves manual dual-column purification steps for the routine determination of urinary metanephrines, is compared with the previously used spectrophotometric Pisano method and an on-line sample preparation procedure, where the automated sequential trace enrichment (ASTED) apparatus is used for the column-switching procedure. In order to automate the metanephrine assay, the enrichment technique was evaluated against the reference chromatographic method. Bio-Rad urine controls gave coefficients of variation of less than 9% at all levels for the reference method. Values of less than 19% were found in the reference range with the enrichment method, and the recovery of 3-methoxytyramine was also too poor to be measured in normal concentrations. The linearity of both methods is sufficient to determine pathological levels of these biogenic amines. Future developments should be focused on decreasing the variation of between-day assays in an on-line, automated procedure.     

Automated high-throughput method using solid-phase microextraction-liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry for the determination of ochratoxin A in human urine

A new automated, high-throughput method for the determination of ochratoxin A (OTA) in human urine samples has been optimized and validated using solid-phase microextraction coupled to liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (SPME-LC-MS/MS). High-throughput was achieved by simultaneous preparation of up to 96 samples using multi-fiber SPME device and multi-well plates. A carbon-tape coating was chosen for the first time as the best extracting phase for this contaminant. The proposed method required only minimal sample pre-treatment to adjust sample pH to 3.0 using a dilution (1:1) with 0.5M phosphate-buffered saline. A simple gradient guaranteed a good chromatographic separation from matrix interferences in only 8min. Relative recovery (%), precision and linearity validation results met Food and Drug Administration acceptance criteria at three concentration levels (1, 10, and 50ng/mL), indicating excellent performance of the proposed method. Limits of detection and quantitation were 0.3 and 0.7ng/mL in urine, respectively. OTA determination in urine is a good marker for human exposure to this mycotoxin. It is also less invasive than blood analysis. This method is fully automated and the SPME technique is simpler, less time-consuming and cheaper compared with most widely adopted clean-up procedures for OTA extraction from urine.     

Ion chromatographic analysis of cyanate in gold processing samples containing large concentrations of copper(I) and other metallocyanide complexes

An ion chromatographic (IC) method was developed for the determination of cyanate in gold cyanidation samples containing large concentrations of metallo-cyanide complexes. The analysis was performed on a Waters HC IC-Pak A anion-exchange column with an anthranilic acid eluent, with detection achieved using indirect UV at 355 nm. Two procedures were developed for removal of the metallo-cyanide complexes prior to the IC analysis. The first was a manual off-line method which used solid-phase extraction cartridges containing a strong anion-exchange resin to trap the complexes and to then enable determination of cyanate without interference. In the second approach, an automated on-line method was developed which used an anion-exchange guard column to trap the complexes and a column switching valve to allow backflushing of the cyanate from the guard column. This enabled the total analysis to be performed in a time of 10–14 min, depending on the sample composition. Finally, a comparison of results obtained by the standard Kjeldahl nitrogen method for cyanate and the IC method revealed an interference in the Kjeldahl method for samples containing large concentrations of Cu(I)-cyanide complexes.     

Screening-method for organotins by elimination of the inorganic tin matrix using a coupling of hydride generation (HG) and transversely heated graphite atomizer-atomic absorption spectrometry (THGA-AAS)

A selective detection method for organotin compounds by elimination of the inorganic tin matrix has been worked out using a coupling of the hydride generation technique (HG) with transversely heated graphite atomizer-atomic absorption spectrometry (THGA-AAS). The suppression of the inorganic tin matrix bases on the utilization of kinetic interferences during the hydride generation step avoiding expensive chromatographic separation techniques. For the different organotins this method delivers detection limits in the range 0.9–1.2 μg/L using a 500 μL sample loop. In comparison with the fully automated determination system this modification represents an efficient screening-method for the determination of organotin in environmental samples allowing fast and inexpensive monitoring.     

An ion chromatographic separation method for the sequential determination of <Superscript>90</Superscript>Sr, <Superscript>241</Superscript>Am and Pu isotopes in a urine sample

A radiobioassay method has been developed for the sequential determination of ⁹⁰Sr, ²⁴¹Am and Pu isotopes in a urine sample. Unlike the existing methods using multiple extraction chromatographic cartridges, this work demonstrates an application of an automated ion chromatographic (IC) system for the separation of these radionuclides on a single IC column. The method meets the bioassay performance criteria for relative bias and relative precision as recommended by ANSI/HPS N13.30-2011. The detection limits for the radionuclides are found to be satisfactory for medical intervention in case of an accidental exposure scenario. Sample preparation time is less than 11 h.     

Validation of a fully automated high throughput liquid chromatographic/tandem mass spectrometric method for roxithromycin quantification in human plasma. Application to a bioequivalence study

A fully automated high-throughput liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method was developed for the determination of roxithromycin in human plasma. The plasma samples were treated by liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) in 2.2 mL 96-deep-well plates. Roxithromycin and the internal standard clarithromycin were extracted from 100 microL of human plasma by LLE, using methyl t-butyl ether as the organic solvent. All liquid transfer steps were performed automatically using robotic liquid handling workstations. After vortexing, centrifugation and freezing, the supernatant organic solvent was evaporated and reconstituted. Sample analysis was performed by reversed-phase LC-MS/MS, with positive ion electrospray ionization, using multiple-reaction monitoring. The method had a very short chromatographic run time of 1.6 min. The calibration curve was linear for the range of concentrations 50.0-20.0x10(3) ng mL(-1). The proposed method was fully validated and it was proven to be selective, accurate, precise, reproducible and suitable for the determination of roxithromycin in human plasma. Therefore, it was applied to the rapid and reliable determination of roxithromycin in a bioequivalence study after per os administration of 300 mg tablet formulations of roxithromycin.     

Development of an on-line coupling of liquid-liquid extraction, normal-phase liquid chromatography and high-resolution gas chromatography producing an analytical marker for the prediction of mutagenicity and carcinogenicity of bitumen and bitumen fumes.

A fast and fully automated system for the determination of polycyclic aromatic compounds (PACs) is described. The system has been developed to produce an analytical 'marker', correlating chemical characteristics (including PAC analysis) with mutagenicity and carcinogenicity. The products of interest are bitumen fumes, bitumen and other (heavy or even residual) oil products, regardless of their boiling range. Dimethyl sulphoxide (DMSO) extractables obtained from a flow-injection analysis (FIA) system are introduced on-line in a normal-phase liquid chromatographic (NPLC) system. Here, the PACs are separated from the DMSO and possible co-extracted heavy residual species. The final step incorporates on-line gas chromatographic analysis of the three-to-six-ring PAC fraction, followed by flame-ionisation detection for quantification. It was demonstrated that data obtained from samples in the distillate lubrication-oil range correlate well with data obtained from the manual DMSO-extraction method standardised by the Institute of Petroleum as IP346.     

Analysis of condensed phosphates in food products by ion chromatography with an on-line hydroxide eluent generator

An ion chromatographic method with gradient elution using an automated eluent generator was developed for the simultaneous determination of condensed phosphates (CPs) such as orthophosphate (P1), pyrophosphate (P2), polyphosphate, trimetaphosphate and phytate in food products. The linear calibration curves for P1, P2, tripolyphosphate, and tetrapolyphosphate in the range 0.5-500 microM had a correlation factor of 0.999 or better. The precision of the method for the CP peak areas obtained with the hydroxide eluent generator was better than that obtained with potassium hydroxide eluents prepared off-line. This method was applied to the determination of CPs in food products such as ham, fish paste, and cheese extracted by trichloroacetic acid.     

Fully automated high-performance liquid chromatographic assay for the analysis of free catecholamines in urine

A totally automated and reliable high-performance liquid chromatographic method is described for the routine determination of free catecholamines (norepinephrine, epinephrine and dopamine) in urine. The catecholamines were isolated from urine samples using small alumina columns. A standard automated method for pH adjustment of urine before the extraction step has been developed. The extraction was performed on an ASPEC (Automatic Sample Preparation with Extraction Columns, Gilson). The eluate was collected in a separate tube and then automatically injected into the chromatographic column. The catecholamines were separated by reversed-phase ion-pair liquid chromatography and quantified by fluorescence detection. No manual intervention was required during the extraction and separation procedure. One sample may be run every 15 min, ca. 96 samples in 24 h. Analytical recoveries for all three catecholamines are 63-87%, and the detection limits are 0.01, 0.01, and 0.03 microM for norepinephrine, epinephrine and dopamine, respectively, which is highly satisfactory for urine. Day-to-day coefficients of variation were less than 10%.