Characteristics of immunosorbents used as a new approach to selective solid-phase extraction in environmental analysis

Summary The trace-level determination of organic pollutants in complex matrices is difficult and often not reliable because theccurrent extraction procedures are non-selective. New extraction sorbents involving antigen-antibody interactions, called immunosorbents (ISs), have been synthesised in order to trap a group of structurally related pollutants. The IS capacity is always high for the analyte-antigen used to make the antibodies, but can be low for some related compounds. In this work, we show the relationship that exists between capacity, break-through volume and recovery of analytes because of the competition between the structurally related compounds for antibody sites. Breakthrough due to the overloading of the column should be avoided because calibration curves are no longer linear. The capacity of two ISs, one made for trapping the triazine pesticide group and the second for the phenylurea, group, have been optimised by selecting silica with 50 nm pore size. Calibration curves are linear for all the compounds in a mixture of ten phenylureas up to a concentration of 5 to 10 μg L⁻¹ for each compound when handling 50 mL water samples through a precolumn packed with 0.22 g of IS. Under these conditions, reliable quantitative results are obtained because calibration curves are similar when compounds are alone or in a mixture. Application to the clean-up of soil extracts illustrates the high selectivity and the high potential of these new sorbents in environmental analysis. Presented at the 21^st ISC held in Stuttgart, Germany, 15^th–20^th September, 1996     

Double Pore Silica Gel Monolith Applied to Liquid Chromatography

Silica gels retaining double pore structure in the size ranges of micrometer and nanometer have been applied to the rod-shaped monolithic column for liquid chromatography. The macropore structure was designed by controlling the phase separation process induced by the hydrolysis and polycondensation of alkoxysilane, whereas the mesopore structure was tailored by the solvent exchange treatments on wet gels. The size exclusion chromatograms on polystyrene standards exhibited almost similar features for octadecyl-modified rod and conventional packed beads columns. The dependence of plate height on the velocity of mobile phase determined for amylbenzene was by far weaker in the rod column than in the packed beads column, suggesting that additional geometrical factors should be considered in describing the separation mechanism in the rod column.     

Analysis of organic pollutants in water at trace levels using fully automated solid-phase extraction coupled to high-performance liquid chromatography

Summary A method has been developed for the determination of trace levels of 32 pesticides, 19 explosives and 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in water in three individual steps. Solid-phase enrichment (SPE) is coupled to high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with a fully automated system. The organic pollutants are enriched on reusable cartridges packed with adsorbent materials: pesticides and explosives on a mixed bed of divinylbenzene-ethylvinylbenzene copolymers (LiChrolut EN^?) and perfluorinated polyethylene (PolyF^?), and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons on C₁₈-modified silica (Zorbax^? ODS1). Thermally assisted desorption (TAD) has been shown to increase the recovery of analytes significantly. As all enriched analytes are transferred to the detector, only fifty millilitres of sample is needed for each single on-line analysis, compared with at least a litre for conventional methods. The separation of the enriched organic analytes is performed on specialized HPLC columns based on reversed-phase materials. The limits of detection of the system employed were found to be below 100 ng L⁻¹. Use of fluorescence detection for the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons resulted in limits of detection in the upper pg L⁻¹ range. Thek values, number of theoretical plates, the recovery rates and the limits of detection of this method for fast screening of organic pollutants from three fifty-millilitre aqueous samples are described. Presented at the 21^st ISC held in Stuttgart, Germany, 15^th–20^th September, 1996     

An optimized direct method for the determination of carboxylic acids in beverages by HPLC

Summary A direct method for the simultaneous determination of tartaric, malic, lactic, acetic, citric, shikimic, fumaric and succinic acids in fruit juices and wines by isocratic reversed phase HPLC is reported.The variables (pH, ionic strength, flow and temperature) have been optimized by a modification of the original simplex method. The separation factor (s) and calibrated resolution product (r^*) have been used as criteria for selectivity optimization. After validation, the method has been applied to the determination of carboxylic acids in apple, orange and lemon juices, white and red wines and musts during the fermenation process.     

Advances in ion chromatography: speciation of μ 1−1 levels of metallo-cyanides using ion-interaction chromatography

Fe(CN)^4?₆, Cu(CN)^3?₄, Co(CN)^3?₆, Fe(CN)^3?₆, Ni(CN)^2?₄ and Cr(CN)^3?₆ are determined by ion-interaction chromatography using a C₁₈ column and methanol-tetrahydrofuran-10 mM phosphate buffer (pH 7.9) (25 + 1 + 74, v/v/v) containing 5 mM tetrabutylammonium hydroxide as mobile phase, with spectrophotometric detection at 214 nm. Detection limits are in the range 0.01–0.5 mg 1^?1. In an alternative approach, an automated on-line sample preconcentration technique is used wherein a 2-ml volume of sample containing metallo-cyanides is loaded onto a C₁₈ precolumn which has been equilibrated with the above mobile phase. The bound solutes are then eluted from the precolumn to a C₁₈ analytical column where they are separated using the same mobile phase as employed to equilibrate the precolumn. Detection limits are in the rate 0.08–1.58 μg 1^?1 and calibration graphs are linear up to 200 μg 1^?1. The preconcentration step is shown to give quantitative recoveries for all species except Fe(CN)^4?₆ and (CN)^3?₄. The iron(II) complex does not bind quantitatively to the precolumn, and extensive studies with the copper complex suggested that low recoveries were due to dissociation and ligand-exchange reactions occurring during the chromatographic separation process. Negative interference effects were observed for Cl^? and SO^2?₄ when present at a level of 250 mg 1^1?, and UV-absorbing anions such as Br^?, SCN^?, NO^?₂ and NO^?₃ caused positive interference when present at concentrations as low as 1 mg 1^?1. The negative interferences could be reduced by diluting the sample and the positive interferences could be eliminated by incorporating an additional step in the preconcentration process, in which UV-absorbing anions bound to the precolumn after sample loading were eluted selectively using an eluent consisting of 10 mM NaCl in phosphate buffer (pH 6.7).     

Ozone-based sulfur chemiluminescence detection: Its applicability to gas,supercritical fluid,and high performance liquid chromatography

The sensitive detection of sulfur-containing analytes is of interest in many industrial applications; selective detection is also desirable since these compounds are usually present at trace levels in difficult matrixes. The purpose of this article is to review the use of the Sievers® ozone-based sulfur chemiluminescence detector, and its coupling with gas chromatography, supercritical fluid chromatography, and high performance liquid chromatography. Detection limits, linearity, response factors, and selectivity are discussed for each of these techniques. Critical operational parameters for the SCD are also described. The use of other sulfur selective detectors for SFC and HPLC is also briefly summarized.     

The use of silicon in the preparation of apolar glass capillary columns

As an extention of previous reports, variables affecting the performance of columns modified by silicon deposition have been optimized. The aim of this work was to produce thermostable apolar glass capillary columns regardless of the glass type used and to maintain column performance under stressful conditions. The main parameters studied were the influence of glass type, leaching effects, and silicon layer thickness on column activity. Deactivation and stationary phase conditions were held constant. Both coated and uncoated columns were tested. The thickness of the silicon layer was found to be relatively unimportant. There was no difference whether soft glass or borosiiicate glass was used and leaching before silicon deposition did not influence column activity. Bare silicon surfaces showed considerable activity especially in respect to interactions with free acids and bases. There are indications that the surface consists of silicon oxide and other oxygenated forms of silicon rather than of the element. Treatment of the silicon layers with dilute hydrofluoric acid and the strict exclusion of traces of oxygen and water did not improve the situation. In spite of such specific interactions, silicon surfaces were easily deactivated by heat treatment with polysiloxanes. Silicon surfaces deactivated by baking with octamethyltetrasiloxane at 400°C are inert and temperature stable and show characteristics similar to persilylated surfaces.     

Improved method for the determination of sulfur components in natural gas

Determination of trace concentrations of sulfur components in natural gas is a true analytical challenge. Only analytical procedures based on gas chromatography can meet the sensitivity and accuracy requirements dictated by environmental regulation institutions and modern chemical industry. In the present contribution the sample pretreatment and chromatographic separation steps have been evaluated and optimized based on the use of a flamebased sulfur chemiluminescence detector (SCD) for target compound detection. The proposed instrument consists of a programmed temperature vaporizing (PTV) injector employing a liner packed with Chromosorb 104, a 4 μm thick film apolar column and a flame-based SCD. Using a 13 mL sample loop the detection limit achievable with the new method is 3 μg S/m³. The precision of replicate measure. ments is generally in the range of 5–15% relative standard deviation. Lower detection limits can be achieved by preconcentrating larger sample volumes, e.g. 100 mL.     

Non-aqueous,reversed-phase,high-performance,thin-layer chromatography and column liquid chromatography of metal complexes of porphine

Summary The chromatographic mobility of 21H, 23H-porphine and its Ni(II), Cu(II), Zn(II) and Pd(II) complexes were investigated by high-performance thin-layer chromatography on an octadecyl-bonded, silica gel plate with various polar organic solvents including alcohols, acetonitrile, dimethylsulfoxide and propylenecarbonate. The mobility generally decreases according to the central metal ion of the complex as follows: Zn(II)>(free porphine)>Ni(II)>Pd(II)>Cu(II). Methanol is a good choice of solvent for the separation of these metal porphine complexes. Successful separation of porphine and the four metal complexes is accomplished within 13 min on a LiChrosorb RP-18 column with methanol eluent.     

Study on interaction between drug and membrane by using liposome coated zirconia-magnesia chromatography

The interactions between drug molecules and membrane were studied using the new chromatography stationary phase of liposome coated zirconia–magnesia. log K_s(ZrO₂–MgO) on this new chromatography for some drugs, compared with that on liposome coated silica chromatography and other reported data, fair correlations were observed between them when excluding effect of special adsorption. log K_s(ZrO₂–MgO) values for barbitalum, diazepam, benzene, benzocaine and toluene correlated well with corresponding values on liposome coated silica chromatography (R = 0.99778, P < 0.001; R = 0.98229, P < 0.003; R = 0.9985, P < 0.0001; R = 0.99925, P < 0.0001, pH value of mobile phase at pH 7.4, 7.0, 6.4 and 5.4, respectively). They also correlated well with the literature data on immobilized artificial membrane chromatography (R = 0.99999, P < 0.004 at pH 7.4) and liposome chromatography (R = 0.99994, P < 0.008) for procaine, lidocaine and bupivacaine. Liposome coated zirconia–magnesia chromatography can thus be used for studying drug–membrane interaction and prediction of drug absorption as another liposome chromatography method.