Reversed Capillary Electrochromatography: Investigation of Peak Symmetry for Eluting Curves of Solutes

Summary A clean method without use of organic solvents has been developed for isolation and high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) determination of oxytetracycline (OTC) and sulphadimidine (SDD) in cow's milk. Isolation is rapid and simple—homogenization with an inorganic acid solution by means of a handy ultrasonic homogenizer, which is easy-to-use and portable, followed by centrifugation. Reversed-phase HPLC was performed on a C₄ column, with 1.25 mmol L⁻¹ succinic acid solution as mobile phase, and identification was by means of a photodiode-array detector. Separation of the analytes was achieved in less than 8 min. Significant linearity was established over the concentration range of 0.1–1.0 μg mL⁻¹ for both target compounds (r>0.99,P<0.01). Average recoveries of OTC and SDD (each spiked at 0.1–1.0 μg mL⁻¹) were ≥88.8, and inter- and intra-assay variability was ≤2.8%. The total time required for analysis of one sample was <20 min. The limits of quantitation of the method (μg mL⁻¹ in milk) were 0.044 for OTC and 0.023 for SDD. No organic solvent was used at any stage of the analysis.     

Symmetry numbers and chemical reaction rates

This article shows how to evaluate rotational symmetry numbers for different molecular configurations and how to apply them to transition state theory. In general, the symmetry number is given by the ratio of the reactant and transition state rotational symmetry numbers. However, special care is advised in the evaluation of symmetry numbers in the following situations: (i) if the reaction is symmetric, (ii) if reactants and/or transition states are chiral, (iii) if the reaction has multiple conformers for reactants and/or transition states and, (iv) if there is an internal rotation of part of the molecular system. All these four situations are treated systematically and analyzed in detail in the present article. We also include a large number of examples to clarify some complicated situations, and in the last section we discuss an example involving an achiral diasteroisomer.     

Quantitation of agmatine by liquid chromatography with laser-induced fluorescence detection

A high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method is described for the determination of agmatine, an endogenous neuromodulator. The method involves pre-column derivatization of the sample with a fluorescent tagging reagent, 7-fluoro-4-nitrobenzoxadiazole (NBD-F). The resulting agmatine derivative is stable and can be readily extracted into ethyl acetate at pH 8.5. The extraction enhances the quantification of low level agmatine because it eliminates chromatographic peaks caused by endogenous amino acids. The HPLC separation is carried out on a C₈ reversed phase column and completed in less than 10 min. With laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) detection, the detection limit is 5×10⁻⁹ M agmatine. Method precision (coefficient of variation) is 5% for agmatine in human plasma at the sub-μM level. This method has been validated by determination of agmatine in biological samples including human plasma and rat brain and stomach tissues.     

Development and validation of HPLC methods for enantioseparation of mirtazapine enantiomers at analytical and semipreparative scale using polysaccharide chiral stationary phases

Novel HPLC methods were developed for the analytical and semipreparative resolution of new antidepressant drug mirtazapine enantiomers. At analytical scale, the separation of the mirtazapine enantiomers was investigated using both cellulose and amylose tris(3,5-dimethylphenylcarbamate) (CDMPC and ADMPC) chiral stationary phases under normal-phases and polar organic modes. Good baseline enantioseparation was achieved using cellulose tris(3,5-dimethylphenylcarbamate) chiral stationary phases under both normal-phases and polar organic modes. Furthermore, the elution order of mirtazapine enantiomic pairs was found reversed by changing the stationary phase from the amylose-based ADMPC–CSPs to its cellulose-based counterpart, CDMPC–CSPs. The validation of the analytical methods including linearity, limit of detection (LOD), limit of quantification (LOQ), recovery and precision, together with the semipreparative resolution of mirtazapine racemate were carried out using cellulose tris(3,5-dimethylphenylcarbamate) chiral stationary phases and methanol as mobile phase without any basic additives under polar organic mode. At analytical scale, the elution times of both enantiomers were less than 6 min at normal temperature and 1.0 ml/min, with the separation factor () 1.99 and the resolution factor (Rs) 3.56. Then, the analytical methods were scaled up to semipreparative loading to obtain small quantities of both mirtazapine enantiomers. At semipreparative scale, about 16 mg/h enantiomers could be isolated and elution times of both enantiomers were less than 10 min at 2.0 ml/min. To increase the throughput, the technique of boxcar injections was used. One enantiomer ((−)-(R)-mirtazapine) was isolated with purity of >99.9% e.e. and >98.0% yield and another ((+)-(S)-mirtazapine) was isolated with purity of >97.0% e.e. and >99.0% yield. In addition, optical rotation and circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy of both mirtazapine enantiomers isolated were also investigated.     

Sampling procedure and a radio-indicator study of mercury determination in whole blood by using an AMA 254 atomic absorption spectrometer

A sampling procedure appropriate for the determination of mercury in whole blood was tested by using both inactive controls and a ¹⁹⁷Hg mercury radio-indicator. To exclude the influence of the instrumental device (an AMA 254 single-purpose mercury atomic absorption spectrometer) on the determination of mercury in whole blood, the function of the instrument was checked by using rat blood with metabolised ¹⁹⁷Hg. The measurement procedure was found to be free of errors. However, the study showed that the material used for the sampling vessels is a crucial parameter for obtaining accurate analytical results. The stability of solutions and samples was tested towards polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) vessels. PE displayed a time-dependent increase in the mercury content both in the samples and in the blood control material. The probable cause of this increase was direct contamination from the material of the vessel and/or diffusion of mercury from the environment through the vessel walls related to a strong complexing affinity of the sample matrix. This assumption was confirmed by supplying the vessels with the complexing agent Na₂EDTA (0.05 mol L^–1). Commercial PP vessels for blood sampling (Sarstedt S-Monovette Metall Analytik) did not give rise to statistically significant variations in mercury content in the samples and blood control material over a 30-day period.     

Headspace-gas chromatography: The influence of sample volume on analytical results

Summary The role of the volume of the sample and the sample vial in equilibrium headspace-gas chromatography is discussed. A new term, thesample phase fraction (_S) is introduced. It is shown that if the value of _S is kept constant, the vial's volume has no influence on the sensitivity of the headspace analysis (which is proportional to the concentration of the analyte in the headspace). In a given headspace sampling system, concentration of the compound of interest in the headspace (c _G ^* ) at equilibrium is related to the value of _S: a higher _S will increase c _G ^* . However, the influence is important only in the case of low distribution coefficients: in the case of higher distribution coefficients this influence is negligible. This conclusion is also true for small changes in the sample volume in duplicate analyses: exact reproducibility of the sample volume is important only in the case of low distribution coefficient values.     

Some exact expressions for the mean and higher moments of functions of sample moments

Examples of exact expressions for the moments (mainly of the mean) of functions of sample moments are given. These provide checks on alternative developments such as asymptotic series for n, and simulation processes. Exact expressions are given for the mean of the square of the sample coefficient of variation, particularly in uniform sampling; Frullani integrals studied by G. H. Hardy arise. It should be kept in mind that exact results for (joint) moment generating functions (mgfs) are of interest as they produce a means of obtaining exact results for (cross) moments—including moments with negative indices. Thus an exact expression for the joint mgf of the 1st two noncentral moments can be used to obtain the mean of the (c.v.)² (but not for the mean of the c..). A general expression is given for the moment generating function of the sample variance. The limitations of Fisher's symbolic formula for the characteristic function of sample moments (or more general statistics) are noted.This research was sponsored by the Applied Mathematical Sciences Research program, Office of Energy Research, U. S. Department of Energy under contract DE-AC0584OR21400 with the Martin Marietta Energy Systems. Inc.     

Determination of As, Sb, Se, Te and Bi in milk by slurry sampling hydride generation atomic fluorescence spectrometry

A simple and fast analytical procedure has been developed for the determination of As, Sb, Se, Te and Bi in milk samples by hydride generation atomic fluorescence spectrometry (HG-AFS). Samples were treated with aqua regia for 10 min in an ultrasound water bath and pre-reduced with KBr for total Se and Te determination or with KI and ascorbic acid for total As and Sb, the determination of Bi being possible in all with or without pre-reduction. Slurries of samples, in the presence of antifoam A, were treated with NaBH₄ in HCl medium to obtain the corresponding hydrides, and AFS measurements were processed in front of external calibrations prepared and measured in the same way as samples. Results obtained by the developed procedure compare well with those found after microwave-assisted complete digestion of samples. The proposed method is simple and fast, and only 1 ml of milk is needed. The values obtained for detection limit are 2.5, 1.6, 3, 6 and 7 ng l⁻¹ for As, Sb, Se, Te and Bi respectively in the diluted samples, with average relative standard deviation values of 3.8, 3.1, 1.9, 6.4 and 1.2% for three independent analysis of a series of commercially available samples of different origin. Data found in Spanish market samples varied from 3.2±0.3 to 11.3±0.2 ng g⁻¹ As, from 3.1±0.2 to 11.6±0.4 ng g⁻¹ Sb, from 10.7±0.5 to 25.5±0.4 ng g⁻¹ Se, from 0.9±0.2 to 9.4±0.6 ng g⁻¹ Te and from 11.5±0.1 to 27.7±0.4 ng g⁻¹ Bi.     

Selective and sensitive detection of organic contaminants in water samples by on-line trace enrichment–gas chromatography–mass spectrometry

Liquid chromatographic (LC) type trace enrichment is coupled online with capillary gas chromatography (GC) with mass spectrometric (MS) detection for the analysis of aqueous samples. A volume of 1–10 ml of an aqueous sample is preconcentrated on a trace-enrichment column packed with a polymeric stationary phase. After cleanup with HPLC-grade water the precolumn is dried with nitrogen and subsequently desorbed with ethyl acetate. A fraction of 60 μl is introduced on-line into a diphenyltetramethyldisilazane-deactivated retention gap under partially concurrent solvent evaporation conditions and using an early solvent vapor exit. The analytes are separated and detected by means of GC–MS. The potential of the LC–GC–MS system for monitoring organic pollutants in river and drinking water is studied. Target analysis is carried out with atrazine and simazine as model compounds; the detection limits achieved under full-scan and multiple ion detection conditions are 30 pg and 5 pg, respectively. Identification of unknown compounds (non-target analysis), is demonstrated using a river water sample spiked with 168 pollutants varying in polarity and volatility.