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.     

Analysis of residual trifluoroacetic acid in a phosphate-buffered saline matrix by ion chromatography with suppressed conductivity detection

As part of the formulation of a cell-based pharmaceutical product, cells were harvested from mice and incubated in a cocktail containing cell culture media and high levels of trifluoroacetic acid (TFA). The cells were washed with a phosphate-buffered saline solution to remove residual cell culture media and other reagents before the cells were infused back into the mice from which they originated. Because of the potentially toxic nature of the TFA, the cells were washed multiple times and the final wash was monitored for residual TFA in order to demonstrate the efficient removal of the reagent before the cell product could be reintroduced into the test animal. This report describes the method that was developed incorporating anion-exchange chromatography with suppressed conductivity detection for the analysis of residual TFA (down to 50 ng/ml) in the presence of high concentrations of phosphate and chloride interferences. The ultimate sensitivity of the method was improved by selectively removing halide anions using a silver cartridge before sample analysis. The method proved to be rugged and reproducible enough to be validated and used to monitor residual TFA levels in cell washes in support of an acute toxicological study. Results demonstrating the method’s sensitivity, selectivity, precision and linearity were reported.     

Retention prediction of small peptides in reversed-phase liquid chromatography

Summary Retention prediction of small peptides (up to four residues) in reversed-phase liquid chromatography has been investigated, considering the contributions of side chains in each position to the peptide retention. In isocratic elution the retention of peptides could be predicted within about 8% relative error.     

Thermodynamic studies of pressure-induced retention of peptides in reversed-phase liquid chromatography

The pressure-induced retention of peptides on reversed-phase HPLC was studied by systematically changing organic solvent composition and temperature at both low (19 bar) and high (318 bar) pressures using a homologous series of hydrophobic poly-L-phenylalanine (n = 2-7) as the model compound. Based on van' t Hoff plots under different organic solvent compositions and pressures, the enthalpy change for the solute (deltaH) was determined. Moreover, both the enthalpy and entropy change for each phenylalanine residue (deltadeltaH and deltadeltaS), which corresponds to solute retention on a microenvironment along the depth of C18 chain, were also calculated by direct subtractions. Results indicate that under acetonitrile (ACN) compositions above 35%, the pressure caused deltadeltaS value to change from a negative to a positive value and both deltaH and deltadeltaH to change from a negative to a less negative value, all leading to a thermodynamic state closer to those under 35% acetonitrile composition. This implies that the pressure-induced retention observed in this study was an entropy-favored but enthalpy-unfavored process and was explained by pressure-induced desorption of solvent molecules that were associated with the stationary phase or with the peptide solute. Under 35% acetonitrile composition, however, it was found that neither deltadeltaH nor deltadeltaS value was significantly changed by the pressure. Whereas, both deltaH value and the intercept of van't Hoff plots under 35% acetonitrile composition were increased by pressure. This indicates that under low organic solvent composition, 35%, most of the acetonitrile molecules adsorbed on the surface of the stationary phase and only little solvent molecules were dissolved in the bulk stationary phase where the phenylalanine residues were partitioned. This study has provided new thermodynamic insights to the pressure-induced retention for peptides and proteins.     

Direct microwave promoted trifluoroacetylation of aromatic amines with trifluoroacetic acid

A simple microwave-promoted procedure has been developed for the direct preparation of trifluoroacetanilides. An equimolar mixture of substituted anilines and trifluoroacetic acid was microwave irradiated at short reaction times, giving the corresponding anilides in high yields and purity.     

Temperature selectivity effects in reversed-phase liquid chromatography due to conformation differences between helical and non-helical peptides

In order to characterize the effect of temperature on the retention behaviour and selectivity of separation of polypeptides and proteins in reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC), the chromatographic properties of four series of peptides, with different peptide conformations, have been studied as a function of temperature (5-80 degrees C). The secondary structure of model peptides was based on either the amphipathic alpha-helical peptide sequence Ac-EAEKAAKEX(D/L)EKAAKEAEK-amide, (position X being in the centre of the hydrophobic face of the alpha-helix), or the random coil peptide sequence Ac-X(D/L)LGAKGAGVG-amide, where position X is substituted by the 19 L- or D-amino acids and glycine. We have shown that the helical peptide analogues exhibited a greater effect of varying temperature on elution behaviour compared to the random coil peptide analogues, due to the unfolding of alpha-helical structure with the increase of temperature during RP-HPLC. In addition, temperature generally produced different effects on the separations of peptides with different L- or D-amino acid substitutions within the groups of helical or non-helical peptides. The results demonstrate that variations in temperature can be used to effect significant changes in selectivity among the peptide analogues despite their very high degree of sequence homology. Our results also suggest that a temperature-based approach to RP-HPLC can be used to distinguish varying amino acid substitutions at the same site of the peptide sequence. We believe that the peptide mixtures presented here provide a good model for studying temperature effects on selectivity due to conformational differences of peptides, both for the rational development of peptide separation optimization protocols and a probe to distinguish between peptide conformations.     

Retention prediction and computer-assisted optimization for the separation of PTH-amino acids in isocratic reversed-phase liquid chromatography

Summary Retention prediction of phenythiohydantoin amino acid derivatives in isocratic reversed-phase liquid chromatography was investigated. The predicted retention data of all derivatives were evaluated by comparing them with actually measured retention data. Excellent agreements between these data were found. The optimized conditions to separate overlapping components can also be predicted using the developed computer-assisted optimization system with the concept of retention prediction.     

Development and validation of an assay method for the determination of trifluoroacetic acid in a cyclosporin-like drug

An improved method for the assay of trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) in a cyclosporin-like drug substance is presented, based on ion chromatography with suppressed conductivity detection. Column fouling by the drug molecule is avoided by use of a sample preparation method in which the drug substance is precipitated at alkaline pH whilst the TFA remains in solution. The new method requires a smaller sample mass than a previous method based on headspace-GC-FID whilst achieving an improvement in sensitivity. During validation, the method's performance was found to be consistent with usual acceptance criteria, and the method was found to be robust in routine use.     

Comparison of ethylammonium formate to methanol as a mobile-phase modifier for reversed-phase liquid chromatography

Ethylammonium formate (EAF), (C2H5NH3+HCO2-), is a room-temperature ionic liquid that has a polarity similar to that of methanol (MeOH) or acetonitrile. The separation at 1 mL/min of a test mixture of vitamins or phenols on a polystyrene-divinylbenzene column using either an EAF- or MeOH-water mobile phase is similar in terms of both resolution and analysis time. Because the viscosity of EAF is higher than that of MeOH, the plate count for phenol at room temperature is lower by about a factor of 1.1-1.4 depending on the flow rate. However, van Deemter plots show that this loss in plate count at 1 mL/min can be recovered and improved from 1500 to 2400 plates by working at a slightly elevated temperature of 55 degrees C. A slower flow rate such as 0.8 mL/min can also substantially improve the plate count as compared to 1-1.5 mL/min. Log P (octanol partition coefficient) versus log k' data for a variety of neutral test solutes are again similar whether EAF or MeOH is used as the organic modifier. Resolution of certain peak pairs such as 2,4-dinitrophenol/2,4,6-trinitrophenol and p-aminobenzoate/benzoate is enhanced using EAF as compared to MeOH. One advantage of EAF is that control of retention of solutes such as water-soluble vitamins under totally aqueous mobile phase conditions is environmentally preferable for quality control applications. In addition, EAF seems to be a milder mobile-phase modifier than MeOH for certain proteins such as lysozyme.     

Convenient estimation of the mobile phase volume for water-rich eluents in reversed-phase liquid chromatography

Summary Oxalodihydroxamic acid is proposed as a UV-detectable substitute for D₂O for the convenient estimation of the mobile phase volume (V_m) of water-rich hydro-organic eluents in reversed-phase liquid chromatography. The retention volume of oxalodihydroxamic acid deviates less than 6% from that of D₂O in 0 to 50% methanol-and acetonitrile-water eluents on C₁, C₈, and C₁₈ reversed-phase supports; it is independent of the amount injected from 10ng to 20μg when monitored at 254nm, although the sensitivity is about four-fold greater at 219 nm. The pH should be maintained between about 2 and 4. The deviation from the D₂O retention volume on supports of typical porosity is attributed, at least in part, to a size-exclusion effect. Simple hydroxamic acids can be used as a homologous series for the estimation of V_m over most of the methanol- and acetonitrile-water concentration ranges by the linearization of retentions of homologous series method. Presented at the 15th International Symposium on Chromatography, Nürnberg, October 1984     

Methylammonium formate as a mobile phase modifier for totally aqueous reversed-phase liquid chromatography

Although alkylammonium ionic liquids (ILs) such as ethylammonium nitrate and ethylammonium formate have been used as mobile phase "solvents" for liquid chromatography (LC), we have shown that the IL methylammonium formate (MAF), in part because of its lower viscosity as compared to other ILs, can be an effective replacement for methanol (MeOH) in reversed-phase LC. Plots of log retention factor versus the fraction of MeOH and MAF in the mobile phase indicate quite comparable solvent strength slope values of 2.50 and 2.05, respectively. Using a polar endcapped C18 column, furazolidone and nitrofurantoin using 20% MAF-80% water could be separated in 22 min but no baseline separation is possible using MeOH as the modifier, even down to 10%. Suppression of silanol peak broadening effects by MAF is important, permitting a baseline separation of pyridoxine, thiamine, and nicotinamide using 5% MAF-95% water at 0.7 mL/min. Using 5% MeOH-95% water, severe peak broadening for thiamine is evident. The compatibility of MAF as a mobile phase modifer at the 5% level for LC with mass spectrometry detection of water-soluble vitamins is also shown.     

A one-pot procedure for trifluoroacetylation of arylamines using trifluoroacetic acid as a trifluoroacetylating reagent

A convenient procedure for the preparation of aryl trifluoroacetamides from aryl amines is described that employs 2-4 M equiv of trifluoroacetic acid in refluxing xylene as a trifluoroacetylating agent. Addition of an amount of pyridine that is equimolar to the amount of trifluoroacetic acid present in the reaction mixture facilitates the trifluoroacetylation of rather basic arylamines.     

Efficient oxidation of cycloalkanols by sodium nitrite with molecular oxygen in trifluoroacetic acid

Oxidation of aliphatic cycloalkanols by sodium nitrite in trifluoroacetic acid gave α,ω-dicarboxylic acids in good yields. Adipic acid was obtained in a quantitative yield from cyclohexanol using 1 equiv of sodium nitrite under oxygen atmosphere but the oxidation required more than 3 equiv of sodium nitrite under nitrogen atmosphere. The oxidation method was applicable to the conversion of 1-alkanols to the corresponding carboxylic acids.     

Stable isomers for trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) pentahydrates obtained from density functional calculations

Stable isomers of trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) pentahydrate clusters, TFA-(H₂O)₅, have been explored by using density functional theory calculations. As done for TFA-(H₂O)₄ (Ito, 2013), structure optimization and vibrational calculations were performed for 70 isomeric structures (68 for neutral and 2 for ion-pair species, respectively) at the B971/6–311++G(3df,3pd) level. We found that the edge-sharing bicyclic isomer is at the global minimum and that three other isomers lie energetically within 100 cm⁻¹. Two types of ion-pair species were found to be unstable by 1100 cm⁻¹ in comparison with the global minimum. The results were compared with infrared spectra observed in nitrogen matrix.     

Effect of mobile phase composition, pH and buffer type on the retention of ionizable compounds in reversed-phase liquid chromatography: application to method development

Optimizing separation of ionizable compounds in order to find robust conditions has become an important part of method development in liquid chromatography. This work is an attempt to explain the observed variations of retention of acid and basic compounds with the organic modifier content in the mobile phase, according to various factors: the type of modifier, the type of buffer, the temperature and of course the type of solute. This is done by considering the variation of the so-called chromatographic pKa which refers to the pH measured in the aqueous medium and is determined from retention data. A procedure is described that accurately relates, from nine experiments, retention to solvent composition and pH. The limits of such a procedure are evaluated and two examples of optimized separations of basic compounds are given.     

Reversed-phase affinity chromatography of ecdysteroids with boronic acid-containing eluents

Selective effects of boronic acid-containing eluents on the chromatographic behaviour of ecdysteroids are described. The use of such eluents provides a simple, rapid and sensitive means to assess the presence of certain diol groups in ecdysteroids by ordinary RP-HPLC. It is demonstrated that ecdysteroids with different sets of diols in their molecules have individual shapes of chromatographic peaks. A mechanism of the boronic acid effect is discussed.     

Calculation of amino acid hydrophilicity indices for retention of peptides on amide, diol and silica columns in normal-phase liquid chromatography

Summary A set of hydrophilicity parameters in a normal-phase liquid chromatography of peptides is presented in order to clarify the contribution of individual amino acid residues to peptide retention and to predict retention times. The retention of 100 peptides was studied using normal-phase liquid chromatography on amide, diol and silica columns. An acetonitrile-water mixed solution containing 0.2% trifluoroacetic acid +0.2% triethylamine was used as the mobile phase in a linear gradient elution system. The contribution of each residue upon retention was calculated by linear multiple regression analysis. This paper described the contribution values as “hydrophilicity retention coefficients”. Using these hydrophilicity retention coefficients, retention times could be predicted for peptides of known amino acid content and sequence. A set of hydrophilicity retention coefficients on each column was successfully explained by contributions to the degree of retention.     

Application of micropellicular poly-styrene/divinylbenzene stationary phases for high-performance reversed-phase liquid chromatography electrospray-mass spectrometry of proteins and peptides

Summary Short columns packed with highly crosslinked 2.3 μm poly-styrene/divinylbenzene (PS/DVB) particles were used for rapid and efficient separation of proteins and peptides by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography at elevated temperatures. Enhancement of the diffusivities of the sample components at elevated temperatures together with the short diffusion pathlength with the micropellicular polymeric stationary phases were responsible for high efficiency, high speed of analysis, and short column regeneration times. Underivatized PS/DVB beads as well as PS/DVB microspheres which have been modified with polyvinylalcohol or octadecyl chains on the surface were synthesized, employed, and compared to HY-TACH-C18, a commercially available micropellicular octadecyl-silica stationary phase, for the separation of proteins, octapeptides and tryptic protein digests. Highest performance was obtained with the silica- and PS/DVB-based octadecyl stationary phases, which exhibited similar column efficiencies but different selectivities for proteins and peptides. The minimum detectability at 214 nm and the maximum loading capacity for ribonuclease A using analytical 30×4.6 mm I.D. columns were 10 ng (0.6 pmol) and 1 μg, respectively. Finally, reversed-phase HPLC with a 60×2 mm I.D. narrow-bore column packed with micropellicular octadecyl PS/DVB was coupled successfully to electrospray mass spectrometry at a flow-rate of 0.15 mL min⁻¹ and on-line full-scan mass spectra for molecular mass determination and identification of proteins in the lower picomol range were obtained.     

A new method for the determination of mobile phase volume in normal and reversed-phase liquid chromatography

Summary A new method for the determination of the mobile phase volume (V _m) in liquid chromatography is presented based on the model regarding the retention of ionic solutes in the presence of eluent electrolytes. TheV _m value can be determined by measuring the retention volumes of two ions that have the same charge in two eluent electrolyte systems. Compared with the methods using isotopically labelled eluent components or inorganic salts asV _m markers, the method presented is proved to give more reasonableV _m values for both normal and reversed-phase liquid chromatography. As well as in binary mixed solvent systems, theV _m values in single solvent systems can be determined by this method.