Macroscale high-performance liquid chromatographic separation and instrumental identification of components of diethylaminoethyl murine epidermal growth factor

Murine epidermal growth factor (m-EGF), a polypeptide produced as a chromatographically homogeneous peak on diethylaminoethyl (DEAE) cellulose by the method of Savage and co-workers, and characterised as a single compound, has been shown by ourselves and several other groups to be a mixture. The present contribution extends our previously reported work and discusses the separation of this material, termed DEAE-m-EGF, into its components by preparative ion-pair reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) on C18 mu Bondapak in quantities up to 50 mg per run. Isocratic elution was used and the mobile phase was acetonitrile-water (26:74, v/v, 0.04 M in triethylamine acetate); pH was 5.6, temperature 40 degrees C, and detection was by ultraviolet absorption at 254 nm, and (for some runs) by differential refractometry. Seven significant peaks, four major, three minor, were detected. Of the major peaks, two designated alpha- and beta-EGF, constituted 70% of the total mass and were the most important to our work. Each of the eluted peaks was recovered by lyophilisation, and this product checked for homogeneity by ion-pair RP-HPLC on a C18 mu Bondapak analytical column, with ultraviolet detection as before. All recovered peaks were found to be homogeneous by this criterion. These chromatographically homogeneous compounds were investigated by modern physicochemical instrumentation to determine their structure. The molecular weight of each of the species was determined by fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry. High-field proton magnetic resonance at 270 MHz provided structural and conformational information. Polarimetry and ultraviolet absorption were also used to characterise the compound. alpha-EGF, for example, had a molecular weight of 6040 corresponding to the 53 amino acid residue peptide previously designated EGF; beta-EGF had a molecular weight of 5930. This molecular weight differential of 110 suggested the hypothesis that beta-EGF was a 52 residue peptide corresponding to alpha-EGF minus the terminal asparagine at position 1. Proton magnetic resonance difference spectroscopy (beta spectrum subtracted from alpha) provided powerful confirmatory evidence for this hypothesis. All materials recovered from RP-HPLC were tested in the sheep and found to retain their biological activity.     

A method of general applicability for the micro determination of chlorine,bromine and iodine

Summary A method is described for the combustion of halogen containing organic compounds in milligram quantities in a closed system. It has been found to have greater applicability than existing techniques. After combustion the halogen is determined by an amperometric titration, which permits the determination of Cl^–, Br^– and I^– either singly or in admixture. The accuracy is probably better than existing micro methods for single halides and comparable with these methods for mixed halides.

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Zusammenfassung Eine Methode zur Verbrennung von Milligrammengen halogenhaltiger organischer Verbindungen im geschlossenen System wurde beschrieben. Sie hat einen größeren Anwendungsbereich als bisher bekannte Verfahren. Nach der Verbrennung wird das Halogen durch eine amperometrische Titration bestimmt, womit Chlorid, Bromid und Jodid sowohl einzeln wie in Gemischen bestimmt werden können. Die Genauigkeit seheint besser zu sein als bei bekannten Mikromethoden für die Bestimmung einzelner Halogene und etwa gleich gut wie bei Methoden zur Analyse von Halogengemischen.

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Résumé On décrit une méthode de combustion en vase clos, des composés organiques contenant des halogènes en quantités de l'ordre du milligramme. Cette méthode a été trouvée comme ayant un domaine d'applications plus grand que celui des techniques existant déjà. Après combustion, l'halogène est dosé par titrage ampérométrique, ce qui permet le dosage de Cl^–, Br^– et I^– isolés ou en mélange. La précision est probablement meilleure que celle des microméthodes existant pour les halogénures isolés et comparable à celle de ces méthodes pour les mélanges d'halogénures.