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.     

Enantioselective liquid-solid extraction for screening of structurally related chiral stationary phases

Summary An enantioselective liquid-solid batch extraction method is described for the screening of novel chiral stationary phases (CSPs) during optimization studies of chiral selectors derived form a common lead structure. Extraction enantioselectivity (α) values can be calculated from the enantiomeric excess ee-values of the selectand, which are measured in the liquid phase by enantioselective HPLC. Extraction α-values have been correlated with chromatographic α-values. The influence was studied of several experimental parameters of the assay (pH_a, buffer concentration, temperature, selector/selectand and phase ratio) on the enantiomeric excess (ee) values of the selectands and the enantioselectivity of the CSPs, respectively. The derived statistically significant model has then been implemented to predict chromatographic α-values of novel CSPs. For example, an ee of 89.3% for DNB-Leu as selectand could be achieved in batch extraction for a novel synthesized but mechanistically similarly-acting CSP derived form quinine. This corresponds to a calculated extraction α-value of 17.7. Based on this α_extraction a chromatographic α-value of 28.8 was predicted by the linear correlation model; the experimental HPLC α-value of 31.7 was in good agreement and demonstrated the validity of the proposed screening method. The method is particularly helpful in SO optimization studies.     

Simultaneous determination of tetrahydro-β-carbolines and β-carbolines

Summary Reversed-phase ion-pair HPLC with fluorimetric detectors connected in series was studied for the simultaneous determination of two tetrahydro--carbolines and two -carbolines. After additon of internal standards the samples were reacted with fluorescamine, and then subjected to serial extractions to remove their precursor (tryptamine) from the analytical system. This treatment not only suppressed the artefactual formation of tetrahydro--carbolines and -carbolines during analysis, but also effectively purified them. Under optimum conditions, using trifluoroacetic acid as counter ion, all analytes were separated within 14 min and without major interfering peaks. The quantitative ranges were 0.25–80.0 ng mL^–1 for both tetrahydro--carbolines and 0.1–30.0 ng mL^–1 for both -carbolines. Replicate spiking experiments showed that recovery from most of the samples tested was over 90% and the relative standard deviation ranged from 0.7 to 10.4% within and between assays. The proposed method was applicable to various materials such as soy sauce, vinegar, ketchup, tabasco, beer, wine, sake, whisky, brandy, cows' milk, coffee, cocoa, cheese, cigarette smoke and urine.     

Directly Suspended Droplet Three Liquid Phase Microextraction of Diclofenac Prior to LC

Directly suspended droplet liquid–liquid–liquid microextraction (LLLME) has been used to determine residues of diclofenac (2-[2-(2,6-dichlorophenyl) aminophenyl] ethanoic acid), in environmental water samples. In this technique a free suspended droplet of an aqueous solvent is delivered to the top-center position of an immiscible organic solvent floating on the top of an aqueous sample while being agitated by a stirring bar placed on the bottom of the sample cell. Recently, diclofenac was found as an environmental contaminant in sewage, surface, ground and drinking water samples. In the present work, diclofenac was extracted from water samples by LLLME and analysed by HPLC with UV detection at 281 nm. Factors such as organic solvent, extraction and back extraction times, stirring rate and the pH of acceptor and donor phases were optimized. Enrichment factor and detection limit (LOD, n = 7) were 102 and 0.1 μg L⁻¹, respectively. The linearity ranged from 0.5 to 2,000 μg⁻¹ with a %RSD (n = 5) of 7.2 at S/N = 3. All experiments were carried out at room temperature (22 ± 0.5 °C).     

Determination of Polyvinyl Alcohol Using Gel Filtration Liquid Chromatography

Gel filtration chromatography using a TSKgel G2000 SW column coupled with differential refractive index detection was used to analyse five grades of polyvinyl alcohol. Limits of detection and quantification for the assay were 0.14 mg mL^–1, 0.47 mg mL^–1 respectively. The inter and intra-day co-efficient of variance were both <7%. There was a significant difference (p<0.05, n=5) between the calibration curves across the five grades of PVA due to a refractive index range of 13.0790 –1.3181 (n=3). The assay accuracy was 98.99% ± 8.97% (n=5) and 90.60% ± 7.87% (n=5) of a spiked PVA sample was recovered from a commercial formulation.     

Chiral resolution of diphenylalanine by high-performance liquid chromatography on a crown-ether-based chiral stationary phase and by NMR spectroscopy

Summary The enantiomers of diphenylalanine (DPA) were well separated by chiral HPLC and NMR spectroscopy on the chiral stationary phase (CSP) derived from (18-crown-6)-2,3,11,12-tetracarboxylic acid (18-C-6-TA). The chromatographic parameters such as separation factors and retention times were greatly influenced by the mobile phase conditions. The (+)-18-C-6-TA used in the CSP was also employed as a chiral solvating agent for the enantiodiscrimination of the DPA enantiomers by NMR spectroscopy. The proton of the DPA analyte showing the chemical shift nonequivalences was used in determining the enantiomeric composition of the analyte.     

Increased sample throughput in HPLC using sample switching

Summary Column switching methods are described which demonstrate an alternative approach to the reduction of analytical time in HPLC. Although most methods use a combination of techniques, it has been possible to group them into major categories involving column cleanup, sample cleanup, multicolumn methods and boxcar chromatography. Presented at the 15th International Symposium on Chromatography, Nürnberg, October 1984     

Open tubular columns and non-porous packings in copolymer HPLC analysis

Summary The separation of poly(styrene-co-acrylonitrile) is presented in open tubular stainless steel columns and columns packed with non-porous glass beads. Furthermore separation on a short silica packed column proved to be better than on a similar longer column. A definition of the term high performance precipitation liquid chromatography is suggested for gradient elution with sample injection into a starting eluent which is a nonsolvent for the copolymer under investigation. The choice of a suitable solvent-nonsolvent combination is of essential importance.     

Process scale high performance liquid chromatography part IV—Examples of reversed phase separations

Summary The flexibility of process scale high performance liquid chromatography is demonstrated by three examples of reversed-phase separations (a) a standard purification (b) isolation of trace compounds, and (c) recovery from crystallisation mother liquors. It was shown that a material, thought to be acceptably pure, contained a toxic impurity, and a remaining impurity, a previously unseen component of potential therapeutic interest. Favourable cost data were indicated for example (3). This work was conducted in the Chemical Technology Unit, University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, PO Box 88, Manchester M6O 1OD, UK.     

A photometric flow measurements method for characterisation of HPLC pumps

Summary The measurement of flow constancy and pulsation amplitudes of HPLC pump based on the photoconversion of malachite green leucocyanide is described. The irradiation time and hence the degree of conversion of the leucocyanide is correlated to flow fluctuations of piston driven HPLC pumps. It is possible to measure the amplitude of pulsations and determine the constancy of the flow rate. Most of the pumps show a flow stability better than ±1% measured as relative standard deviation of the flow rate under HPLC conditions (pressure drop 100 bar at 1 ml/min flow rate). The most expensive pump of those tested showed less than ±0.5% flow instability, however, this result was achieved by installation of a large-volume pulsation damper. The method described also allows flow rate measurements under FIA conditions where there is little or no pressure drop at the pump outlet.