在线二维液相色谱技术在中药研究中的应用进展

中药的组成复杂,其化学成分的表征和识别一直是中药研究的基础和关键。在线二维液相色谱是基于两种分离模式构建的色谱分析技术,主要包括中心切割二维液相色谱和全二维液相色谱两种模式,因二者具有更高的峰容量而在中药研究中备受青睐。该文对在线二维液相色谱技术的概念和特点进行了讨论,并对二维液相色谱在中药研究中的应用进行了综述,以期为该技术在中药质量控制、物质基础表征、活性成分筛选等研究方面提供一定参考。     

Novel, highly robust method of carbohydrate pre-purification by two-dimensional liquid chromatography prior to liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry or gas chromatography/mass spectrometry

We describe a novel two-dimensional liquid chromatography (2D-LC) method for fast and robust isolation and concentration of low abundant carbohydrates (sorbitol, glycerol) from biological matrices (plasma and urine). Off-line pre-purified fractions, enriched by analyte of interest, were analyzed by liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (LC/ESI-MS-MS). Initial 2D-LC automated sample pre-purification improved MS detection, eliminated matrix effects, and achieved high sensitivity (picogram detection limit) with a 6 min runtime and increased column lifetime. Using this method we have analyzed more than 1300 samples from biological matrices without column replacement.     

A novel and nonderivatization method for the determination of valproic acid in human serum by two-dimensional liquid chromatography

A novel and robust two-dimensional liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection method (2D-LC–UV) was developed and validated for high-throughput determination of the concentrations of valproic acid (VPA) in human plasma. This 2D-LC system was composed of a first-dimensional LC column, a second-dimensional LC column and an intermediate transfer column. The sample was directly injected into the 2D-LC system after an easy protein precipitation treatment. After online preconcentration and primary separation by the first-dimensional column, the target was captured by an intermediate column and then transferred to second-dimensional column for analysis. The system transferred the target through “central cutting” mode whereby the drug peak was not subject to interference from the matrix. The analysis cycle time was completed within 7.0 min. Compared with other methods that have been developed, the analysis time was reduced and the operation was much easier without any derivatization. The calibration curve was linear over the 5.90–188.94 μg/ml range for the VPA concentrations. The intra-day and inter-day precisions were <5.6%. The recoveries were in the range from 95.2 to 98.0%. This method appears to be sensitive, precise, rapid and low-cost for the quantification of VPA in serum sample.     

LC‐ESI‐MS/MS analysis and pharmacokinetics of heterophyllin B,a cyclic octapeptide from Pseudostellaria heterophylla in rat plasma

Heterophyllin B (HB) is a cyclic octapeptide isolated from Pseudostellaria heterophylla. HB is used as the quality control index for evaluating P. heterophylla in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia. A rapid and sensitive LC‐ESI‐MS/MS method was developed and validated for the analysis of HB in rat plasma. Sample preparation consisted of a solid‐phase extraction step for the removal of interference and preconcentration of the target analyte HB and the internal standard N‐acetylcysteine before chromatographic analysis by MS/MS detection. The separation of HB and N‐acetylcysteine was performed using a Hypersil GOLD^TM C₁₈ column and a mixture of methanol–water (60:40, v/v) containing 10 mmol/L ammonium formate and 0.1% formic acid as the mobile phase. The determination step was optimized in the selected reaction monitoring mode for the highly selective and sensitive quantitation of HB in rat plasma. Intra‐ and inter‐assay precision (as relative standard deviation) was ≤9.1%, and accuracy was between 92.6 and 102.7%. The validated method was successfully applied to quantify HB concentrations up to 7 h after tail intravenous injections of 2.08, 4.16 and 8.32 mg/kg HB in rats. The LC‐MS/MS method identified the relevant pharmacokinetic parameters of HB and its studied analog. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

高分辨采样二维液相色谱法同时测定金银花中绿原酸和木犀草苷含量

采用高分辨采样二维液相色谱法（HiRes 2D-LC）对金银花中绿原酸和木犀草苷进行准确定量分析。第一维液相色谱采用C18色谱柱，以乙腈和0.4%（v/v）磷酸水溶液为流动相进行梯度洗脱；第二维液相色谱采用SB-Phenyl色谱柱，以乙腈和0.5%（v/v）乙酸水溶液为流动相进行梯度洗脱；二维接口采用五位十通阀，并配置2个多中心切割阀，对绿原酸组分和木犀草苷组分进行多次连续切割。实验结果表明，二维液相色谱分析提高了绿原酸和木犀草苷色谱峰的确认能力，可揭示一维液相色谱分析中共洗脱或隐藏峰的信息；高分辨采样模式实现了一维目标组分的片段式整峰切割，提高了二维液相色谱分析的准确定量能力；通过线性关系、基质加标回收和重复性等考察结果，表明高分辨采样二维液相色谱具有优异的定量准确性和重复性，为中药等复杂基质组分样品的分离和准确定量提供了新方法。     

A rapid and sensitive determination of hypoxic radiosensitizer agent nimorazole in rat plasma by LC‐MS/MS and its application to a pharmacokinetic study

A highly sensitive, accurate and robust LC‐MS/MS method was developed and validated for determination of nimorazole (NMZ) in rat plasma using metronidazole (MNZ) as internal standard (IS). The analyte and IS were extracted from plasma by precipitating protein with acetonitrile and were chromatographed using an Agilent Poroshell 120, EC‐C₁₈ column. The mobile phase was composed of a mixture of acetonitrile and 0.1 % formic acid (85:15 v/v). The total run time was 1.5 min and injection volume was 5 μL. Multiple reaction monitoring mode using the transitions of m/z 227.1 → m/z 114.0 for MNZ and m/z 172.10 → m/z 128.1 for IS were monitored on a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer, operating in positive ion mode. The calibration curve was linear in the range of 0.25–200 ng/mL (r² > 0.9996) and the lower limit of quantification was 0.25 ng/mL in the rat plasma samples. Recoveries of NMZ ranged between 88.05 and 95.25%. The precision (intra‐day and inter‐day) and accuracy of the quality control samples were 1.25–8.20% and ?2.50–3.10, respectively. The analyte and IS were found to be stable during all sample storage and analysis procedures. The LC‐MS/MS method described here was validated and successfully applied to pharmacokinetic study in rats. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Two dimensional assisted liquid chromatography – a chemometric approach to improve accuracy and precision of quantitation in liquid chromatography using 2D separation,dual detectors,and multivariate curve resolution

Comprehensive two-dimensional liquid chromatography (LC × LC) is rapidly evolving as the preferred method for the analysis of complex biological samples owing to its much greater resolving power compared to conventional one-dimensional (1D-LC). While its enhanced resolving power makes this method appealing, it has been shown that the precision of quantitation in LC × LC is generally not as good as that obtained with 1D-LC. The poorer quantitative performance of LC × LC is due to several factors including but not limited to the undersampling of the first dimension and the dilution of analytes during transit from the first dimension (¹D) column to the second dimension (²D) column, and the larger relative background signals. A new strategy, 2D assisted liquid chromatography (2DALC), is presented here. 2DALC makes use of a diode array detector placed at the end of each column, producing both multivariate ¹D and two-dimensional (2D) chromatograms. The increased resolution of the analytes provided by the addition of a second dimension of separation enables the determination of analyte absorbance spectra from the ²D detector signal that are relatively pure and can be used to initiate the treatment of data from the first dimension detector using multivariate curve resolution–alternating least squares (MCR–ALS). In this way, the approach leverages the strengths of both separation methods in a single analysis: the ²D detector data is used to provide relatively pure analyte spectra to the MCR–ALS algorithm, and the final quantitative results are obtained from the resolved ¹D chromatograms, which has a much higher sampling rate and lower background signal than obtained in conventional single detector LC × LC, to obtain accurate and precise quantitative results. It is shown that 2DALC is superior to both single detector selective or comprehensive LC × LC and 1D-LC for quantitation of compounds that appear as severely overlapped peaks in the ¹D chromatogram – this is especially true in the case of untargeted analyses. We also anticipate that 2DALC will provide superior quantitation in targeted analyses in which unknown interfering compounds overlap with the targeted compound(s). When peaks are significantly overlapped in the first dimension, 2DALC can decrease the error of quantitation (i.e., improve the accuracy by up to 14-fold compared to 1D-LC and up to 3.8-fold compared to LC × LC with a single multivariate detector). The degree of improvement in performance varies depending upon the degree of peak overlap in each dimension and the selectivities of the spectra with respect to one another and the background, as well as the extent of analyte dilution prior to the ²D column.     

Application of Heart-Cutting 2D-LC for the Determination of Peak Purity for a Chiral Pharmaceutical Compound by HPLC

As an alterative to photodiode array or mass spectral analysis, a heart-cutting two-dimensional liquid chromatography technique (2D-LC) can be utilized to assess peak purity. In this work, the strengths of the heart-cutting 2D-LC technique are presented by highlighting a case study where a co-eluting impurity present at 0.8 % was non-detectable using traditional methods. However, when fractions taken across the main peak were re-assayed using an orthogonal method, this peak was readily observed. With modern switching valves and up-to-date chromatography software, implementing this technique into a validation protocol for assessing peak purity is simple and can be accomplished through only minor modifications to existing HPLC equipment.     

A four-dimensional separation approach by offline 2D-LC/IM-TOF-MS in combination with database-driven computational peak annotation facilitating the in-depth characterization of the multicomponents from Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma (Atractylodes macrocephala)

Plant metabolites represent complex chemical system, which renders it difficult to clarify the chemical composition by conventional liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) due to the limited selectivity and peak capacity. The rhizomes of Atractylodes macrocephala have been utilized as a traditional Chinese medicine Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma (Bai-Zhu), and have been reported containing multiple categories of plant metabolites. Targeting the multicomponents from A. macrocephala, an integral approach by offline two-dimensional liquid chromatography/ion mobility quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (2D-LC/IM-QTOF-MS) was established and validated. By configuring an XBridge Amide column of Hydrophilic Interaction Chromatography and an Atlantis Premier BEH C18AX column of mixed ion exchange and reversed-phase modes, the established 2D-LC/IM-QTOF-MS system showed high orthogonality up to 0.91. Dimension-enhanced, data-independent high-definition MS^E (HDMS^E) in the positive ESI mode was conducted on a Vion IM-QTOF mass spectrometer, and its hyphenation to offline 2D-LC could enable the four-dimensional separation (each dimension in 2D-LC, IM, and MS). Particularly, HDMS^E facilitated the acquisition of high-definition MS¹ and MS² spectra. In-house library-driven computational peak annotation by the bioinformatics platform UNIFI could efficiently process and annotate the HDMS^E data for the structural elucidation. By integrating reference compounds comparison, we could identify or tentatively characterize 251 components from A. macrocephala (including 115 sesquiterpenoids, 90 polyacetylenes, 11 flavonoids, 9 benzoquinones, 12 coumarins, and 14 others), which indicated large improvement in identifying those minor plant components, compared with the conventional LC/MS approach. Conclusively, offline 2D-LC/IM-QTOF-HDMS^E in combination with computational data interpretation proves to be powerful facilitating the in-depth multicomponent characterization of herbal medicine.     

Development and validation of an on-line two-dimensional reversed-phase liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method for the simultaneous determination of prostaglandins E(2) and F(2alpha) and 13,14-dihydro-15-keto prostaglandin F(2alpha) levels in human plasma

We developed and validated an on-line reverse-phase two-dimensional LC/MS/MS (2D-LC/MS/MS) system for simultaneous determination of the levels of prostaglandin (PG) E(2) as well as PGF(2alpha) and its metabolite 13,14-dihydro-15-keto PGF(2alpha) (F(2alpha)-M) in human plasma. Analytes were extracted by a three-step solid-phase extraction. Samples were then analyzed by on-line 2D-LC/MS/MS with electrospray ionization in negative mode. The 2D-LC system is composed of two reverse-phase analytical columns with a trapping column linking the two analytical columns. While an acidic buffer was used for both separation dimensions, differing organic solvents were employed for each dimension: methanol for the first and acetonitrile for the second to increase resolving power. The 2D-LC/MS/MS method was highly selective and sensitive with a significantly lower limit of quantitation (0.5 pg/mL for PGE(2) and 2.5 pg/mL for PGF(2alpha) and F(2alpha)-M, respectively). Linearity of the 2D-LC/MS/MS system was demonstrated for the calibration ranges of 0.5-50 pg/mL for PGE(2) and 2.5-500 pg/mL for PGF(2alpha) and F(2alpha)-M, respectively. Acceptable precision and accuracy were obtained throughout the calibration curve ranges. This highly selective and sensitive method was successfully utilized to determine the endogenous levels of PGE(2), PGF(2alpha), and F(2alpha)-M in plasma samples from six (four male and two female) normal volunteers. The mean concentrations for each analyte were 0.755 pg/mL for PGE(2), 5.70 pg/mL for PGF(2alpha) and 9.48 pg/mL for F(2alpha)-M.     

Rapid simultaneous determination of codeine and morphine in plasma using LC‐ESI‐MS/MS: Application to a clinical pharmacokinetic study

A rapid and sensitive high‐performance LC‐MS/MS method was developed and validated for the simultaneous quantification of codeine and its metabolite morphine in human plasma using donepezil as an internal standard (IS). Following a single liquid‐liquid extraction with ethyl acetate, the analytes were separated using an isocratic mobile phase on a C₁₈ column and analyzed by MS/MS in the selected reaction monitoring mode using the respective [M+H]⁺ ions, mass‐to‐charge ratio (m/z) 300/165 for codeine, m/z 286/165 for morphine and m/z 380/91 for IS. The method exhibited a linear dynamic range of 0.2–100/0.5–250 ng/mL for codeine/morphine in human plasma, respectively. The lower LOQs were 0.2 and 0.5 ng/mL for codeine and its metabolite morphine using 0.5 mL of human plasma. Acceptable precision and accuracy were obtained for concentrations over the standard curve range. A run time of 2.0 min for each sample made it possible to analyze more than 300 human plasma samples per day. The validated LC‐MS/MS method was applied to a pharmacokinetic study in which healthy Chinese volunteers each received a single oral dose of 30 mg codeine phosphate.     

Liquid chromatography‐tandem mass spectrometric method for determination of E121 in mouse plasma and its application to pharmacokinetics

A rapid LC‐MS/MS method for quantification of an enaminone analog, E121 in mouse plasma using E118 as an internal standard (IS) has been developed and validated. The analyte was analyzed on C₁₈ column using a mobile phase of acetonitrile/methanol/ammonium acetate/formic acid (60:20:20:0.025, v/v/v/v) at a flow rate of 0.25 mL/min. Quantitation was achieved using ESI+ interface, employing MRM mode at m/z 308>262 and 222>194 for E121 and IS, respectively. The calibration standards were linear over a range of 0.10–20 μg/mL (r²>0.99) with an LLOQ of 0.1 μg/mL (RSD%; 11.4% and bias%; 9.5%). Intra‐ and inter‐run precision of E121 assay ranged from 3.7 to 10.9% with accuracy (bias) that varied between ?10.0 and 12.0%, demonstrating good precision and accuracy. Recoveries of E121 and the IS from plasma were above 80%. Stability of E121 in plasma showed that the analyte was stable under various conditions. The matrix effect study showed a lack of effect. The applicability of the developed method was demonstrated by measuring E121 in mouse plasma samples following intraperitoneal administration of various doses ranging from 10 to 100 mg/kg and this study demonstrates that E121 exhibits linear kinetics in the dose range studied.     

A simple LC–MS/MS method facilitated by salting‐out assisted liquid–liquid extraction to simultaneously determine trans‐resveratrol and its glucuronide and sulfate conjugates in rat plasma and its application to pharmacokinetic assay

A simple LC–MS/MS method facilitated by salting‐out assisted liquid–liquid extraction (SALLE) was applied to simultaneously investigate the pharmacokinetics of trans‐ resveratrol (Res) and its major glucuronide and sulfate conjugates in rat plasma. Acetonitrile–methanol (80:20, v /v) and ammonium acetate (10 mol L⁻¹) were used as extractant and salting‐out reagent to locate the target analytes in the supernatant after the aqueous and organic phase stratification, then the analytes were determined via gradient elution by LC–MS/MS in negative mode in a single run. The analytical method was validated with good selectivity, acceptable accuracy (>85%) and low variation of precision (<15%). SALLE showed better extraction efficiency of target glucuronide and sulfate conjugates (>80%). The method was successfully applied to determine Res and its four conjugated metabolites in rat after Res administration (intragastric, 50 mg kg⁻¹; intravenous, 10 mg kg⁻¹). The systemic exposures to Res conjugates were much higher than those to Res (AUC_0–t , i.v., 7.43 μm h; p.o., 8.31 μm h); Res‐3‐O‐β ‐d ‐glucuronide was the major metabolite (AUC_0–t , i.v., 66.1 μm h; p.o., 333.4 μm h). The bioavailability of Res was estimated to be ~22.4%. The reproducible SALLE method simplified the sample preparation, drastically improved the accuracy of the concomitant assay and gave full consideration of extraction recovery to each target analyte in bio‐samples.     

Organometallic Tc-technetium(I)- and Re-rhenium(I)-folate derivatives for potential use in nuclear medicine

The folate receptor (FR) is a high affinity membrane protein which is overexpressed on a wide variety of tumor cells, but highly restricted in normal tissues. Therefore folate derivatives labeled with short living isotopes such as ^99mTc (γ, t_1/2 = 6 h) or ¹⁸⁸Re (β⁻, t_1/2 = 17 h) could be used for tumor diagnosis and therapy. In this respect there is a great interest to develop organometallic technetium(I) and rhenium(I) modified folate radiopharmaceuticals. For this purpose folic acid was functionalized with a tridentate picolylamine monoacetic acid chelating system. The chelating system was selectively coupled via an aminohexane spacer to the γ- or α-carboxyl group of the glutamate moiety of folic acid to obtain the corresponding γ- or α-folate derivative or - if directly attached to pteroic acid - the pteroate derivative. The derivatives were reacted with the precursor [M(OH₂)₃(CO)₃]⁺ (M = ^99mTc, Re) to form uniform organometallic folate complexes under mild reaction conditions. All compounds were chemically characterized by means of NMR, MS, IR and HPLC. The determination of the IC₅₀-values for the PAMA-γ-folate derivative (100 nM) and the corresponding organometallic rhenium complex (110 nM) proved retained receptor binding properties. The radiolabeling with [^99mTc(OH₂)₃(CO)₃]⁺ was achieved in excellent yield (>95%) at low ligand concentration (10⁻⁴ M). The cell binding (>45% of total activity) and internalization (>15% of total activity) of all ^99mTc-complexes was very high and specificity for the FR was proved by their complete displacement with excess folic acid. The ^99mTc-complexes were positively tested for their plasma stability and for the absence of binding to plasma proteins.     

Development and optimization of a method for the separation of platycosides in Platycodi Radix by comprehensive two-dimensional liquid chromatography with mass spectrometric detection

Comprehensive two-dimensional chromatography (LC × LC) using combinations of two columns (C₁₈ × CN and C₁₈ × NH₂) was employed with electrospray (ESI) mass spectrometry to analyze platycosides from root extract. Based on the capability of the C₁₈, CN and NH₂ columns to separate the platycosides, the orthogonality in two-dimensional space according to each combination of columns was predicted from the correlation coefficients between the retention times of the 17 compounds separated by the independent CN and C₁₈ columns, and NH₂ and C₁₈ columns. The expected distribution of the peaks was also compared with the two-dimensional plots obtained by practical separation in an LC × LC system. The increased peak capacities using C₁₈ × NH₂ allowed three minor components and five isomers of the platycosides to be newly separated, which were not identified with 1D-LC using the individual C₁₈ column, whereas the combination of C₁₈ × CN did not result in any improvement of the separation performance.     

Sensitive Quantification of Carboxylic Acid Metabolite of Clopidogrel in Human Plasma by LC with UV Detection

A rapid LC method with UV detection was developed for the quantification of carboxylic acid metabolite of clopidogrel in human plasma. Following a simple protein precipitation using a mixture of methanolic solution of ZnSO₄, the analyte and commercially available internal standard were separated using a mobile phase of water–acetonitril (85:15, v/v) adjusted to pH 3.5 on a Chromolith C18 column at a flow rate of 2.5 mL min^?1 with a total retention time of 4 min. Linearity was verified over the range of 20–3,000 ng mL^?1 where the LOQ was 20 ng mL^?1. This method was applied in a pharmacokinetic study.     

Determination of seven nitrobenzene compounds in mainstream cigarette smoke with heart-cutting two-dimensional gas chromatography

A heart-cutting two-dimensional gas chromatography (GC) method was developed for the determination of nitrobenzene compounds (NBCs) in mainstream cigarette smoke. For the method, the particulate matter of cigarette smoke was extracted with cyclohexane, purified with a silica solid-phase extraction (SPE) cartridge and analyzed by heart-cutting two-dimensional GC equipped with two electron capture detectors. The heart-cutting two-dimensional GC was achieved by a single-column GC oven equipped with a microfluidic pressure balanced device (Deans switch). Two-dimensional GC was compared to single-dimensional GC and found to be clearly better for the separation of seven NBCs from a complex smoke matrix. The limits of detection ranged from 1.28 to 9.83 ng/mL, spiked recoveries were between 88.3 and 106.8% and relative standard deviation ranged from 2.79 to 12.78%. The NBCs yields of six kinds of Chinese and international cigarettes brands, which were all smoked according to two smoking protocols (International Organization for Standardization and Health Canada Intense smoking regimens), were determined and compared.     

Analysis of 5-methyltetrahydrofolate in human blood, serum and urine by on-line coupling of capillary isotachophoresis and zone electrophoresis

The predominant circulating folate coenzyme in plasma/serum, 5‐methyltetrahydrofolate (5‐MTHF) was determined in human blood, serum and urine using a method based on the hyphenation of capillary ITP and zone electrophoresis. Measurements were done with a commercially available instrument for capillary isotachophoresis equipped with a column‐switching system. The choice of electrolytes was limited by the instability of 5‐MTHF and volatility of electrolytes for the potential coupling of the instrumentation with MS detector. To get an insight into the separability of individual sample components in an isotachophoretic analysis, we constructed zone existence diagrams for isotachophoretic electrolyte systems having a leading electrolyte composed of acetate and ammonium of pH 4.5 and 7.0, hydrocarbonate and ammonium, pH 7.8, chloride and ammonium, pH 5.6, and chloride and creatinine, pH 5.0, with hydroxide ion as the terminator. For isotachophoretic preseparation, the non‐volatile leading electrolyte with good buffering capacity composed of 1×10⁻² M HCl and 2.5×10⁻² M creatinine, pH 5.0, and terminating electrolyte composed of 1×10⁻² M MES was selected as the most suitable. The optimum BGE for CZE analysis from the standpoint of analyte stability, separability and volatility for MS coupling was 1×10⁻² M acetate with 3.5×10⁻² M ammonium, pH 4.5. Using this combination of electrolytes, LODs reached with optical detection at 220 nm were 1.6×10⁻⁷ M in human blood, 1.1×10⁻⁷ M in human serum and 4.7×10⁻⁶ M in human urine. Estimated content of 5‐MTHF in blood and serum samples of women following oral daily administration of 0.8 mg of folic acid was 1.2×10⁻⁵ and 5.8×10⁻⁶ M, respectively.     

Automated clean-up, separation and detection of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in particulate matter extracts from urban dust and diesel standard reference materials using a 2D-LC/2D-GC system

A multidimensional, on-line coupled liquid chromatographic/gas chromatographic system was developed for the quantification of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). A two-dimensional liquid chromatographic system (2D-liquid chromatography (LC)), with three columns having different selectivities, was connected on-line to a two-dimensional gas chromatographic system (2D-gas chromatography (GC)). Samples were cleaned up by combining normal elution and column back-flush of the LC columns to selectively remove matrix constituents and isolate well-defined, PAH enriched fractions. Using this system, the sequential removal of polar, mono/diaromatic, olefinic and alkane compounds from crude extracts was achieved. The LC/GC coupling was performed using a fused silica transfer line into a programmable temperature vaporizer (PTV) GC injector. Using the PTV in the solvent vent mode, excess solvent was removed and the enriched PAH sample extract was injected into the GC. The 2D-GC setup consisted of two capillary columns with different stationary phase selectivities. Heart-cutting of selected PAH compounds in the first GC column (first dimension) and transfer of these to the second GC column (second dimension) increased the baseline resolutions of closely eluting PAHs. The on-line system was validated using the standard reference materials SRM 1649a (urban dust) and SRM 1975 (diesel particulate extract). The PAH concentrations measured were comparable to the certified values and the fully automated LC/GC system performed the clean-up, separation and detection of PAHs in 16 extracts in less than 24 h. The multidimensional, on-line 2D-LC/2D-GC system eliminated manual handling of the sample extracts and minimised the risk of sample loss and contamination, while increasing accuracy and precision.

Liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry method for determination of bisoprolol in human plasma using d5‐bisoprolol as the internal standard

A simple, reliable and sensitive liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC‐MS/MS) protocol was developed and validated for quantification of bisoprolol in human plasma. The sample was pretreated with a simple procedure of protein precipitation and an isotope‐labeled d5‐bisoprolol was used as internal standard. The chromatographic separation was performed on a Capcell Pak C₁₈ MG III column (100 mm × 2.0 mm, 5 µm). The protonated ion of the analyte was detected in positive ionization by multiple reaction monitoring mode. The mass transition pairs of m/z 326.3 → 116.3 and m/z 331.3 → 121.3 were used to detect bisoprolol and the internal standard, respectively. Linearity, accuracy, precision, recovery, matrix effect, dilution test and stability were evaluated during method validation over the range of 0.5–100 ng/mL. The validated method was successfully applied to analyze human plasma samples in a bisoprolol bioavailability study. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.