Conventional Stationary Phases Research Articles

Synthesis of C8F13-SiO2 stationary phase for chromatographic separation of highly polar compounds

Up to now, the chromatographic separation and analysis of highly polar compounds are still challenging because of low retention ability and selectivity of conventional stationary phases (SPs). Developing new SPs to achieve high-resolution and high-efficiency separation of polar compounds is of great importance for health and medicine, food safety, environmental protection, etc.. Herein, an influential multi-step modification strategy (modification with 1H,1H,2H,2H-perfluorooctyltriethoxysilane on the silica twice and end-capped with trimethylchlorosilane once) is introduced to prepare C8F13-SiO2 SP. The physical properties of C8F13-SiO2 SP, including morphologies, pore structures and carbon content were fully characterized by various instrumental techniques. The packed HPLC column with C8F13-SiO2 SP exhibited high column efficiency, good peak shape (tailing factors for most analytes are between 0.9 and 1.3), and resolution for simultaneous separation of ginsenosides, sulfonamides, nucleosides, and benzoylurea insecticides (BUs); meanwhile, the retention mechanism of typical reversed-phase liquid chromatography (RPLC) mode was observed. A column efficiency of 30,220 plates/m for separation of ginsenoside Re was obtained. Furthermore, the resulting columns benefit from the advantages of supreme reproducibility, repeatability and stability. Importantly, the chromatographic properties (e.g. column efficiencies, chromatographic peak shapes, retention ability and resolution) of the C8F13-SiO2 SP for the polar analytes were superior to those of the commercial SPs (including commercial amino-modified silica SP, diol-modified silica SP and commercial PFP-SiO2 SP). Thus, the C8F13-SiO2 SP is able to satisfy the strict requirements of highly polar compounds separation.

Gas chromatography of essential oil: State-of-the-art, recent advances, and perspectives.

This review is an overview of the recent advances of gas chromatography in essential oil analysis; in particular, it focuses on both the new stationary phases and the advanced analytical methods and instrumentations. A paragraph is dedicated to ionic liquids as gas chromatography stationary phases, showing that, thanks to their peculiar selectivity, they can offer a complementary contribution to conventional stationary phases for the analysis of complex essential oils and the separation of critical pairs of components. Strategies to speed-up the analysis time, thus answering to the ever increasing request for routine essential oils quality control, are also discussed. Last but not least, a paragraph is dedicated to recent developments in column miniaturization in particular that based on microelectromechanical-system technology in a perspective of developing micro-gas chromatographic systems to optimize the energy consumption as well as the instrumentation dimensions. A number of applications in the essential oil field is also included.

A click tyrosine zwitterionic stationary phases for hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography

New zwitterionic (ZIC) stationary phases (SPs) are synthesized with the click and conventional bonding of tyrosine to silica gel. Infrared spectra and elemental analysis demonstrate the successful click and conventional bonding of this ZIC group on silica particles by the surface coverage including 2.36 and 0.75 µm m−2, respectively. Given the above-mentioned explanation, the present study evaluated the retention mechanism and chromatographic manners of polar compounds on these new materials under hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC) conditions. Based on the results, the Click-Tyrosine Stationary Phase provided good HILIC characteristics when it was applied to separate phenolic compounds, amino acids, alkaloids, and nucleobases compared to bare silica gel SP and even conventional tyrosine SPs. Further, this new Click-Tyrosine-SP represented appropriate HILIC features and column efficiency (the theoretical plate number was up to 50,000 plates m−1 for thebaine). Furthermore, the study investigated the effect of solute polarity (the number of the hydroxyl group of phenolic compounds) and hydrophobicity (the number of the side chain of aliphatic amino acids) on retention behaviors. Finally, some important factors were studied as the potential variables for guiding the retention behavior of the polar compound in HILIC condition including solvent composition, salt concentration, and the buffer pH of the mobile phase.

Evaluation of different ionic liquid stationary phases for the analysis of carbohydrates by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

Five commercial ionic liquid (IL) columns have been evaluated for the first time for the gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis of low molecular weight carbohydrate (LMWC) standards (mono-, di-, and trisaccharides, inositols, and iminosugars). A previous derivatization step was necessary to convert the LMWCs into their volatile and stable derivatives. Compared with conventional GC stationary phases, such as HP-1 and Supelcowax® 10, IL columns have shown a different selectivity in the separation of target compounds. Among the IL columns, only SLB™-IL82 allowed the elution of all the LMWCs studied. Its performance in terms of peak width and asymmetry, evaluated under different oven temperature conditions, was shown to be dependent on the carbohydrate class considered. As an example of application, a SLB™-IL82 column was successfully used to separate the complex mixtures of LMWCs in hyacinth and mulberry extracts. This column is an interesting alternative to the conventional stationary phases used in the GC analysis of LMWCs in real-world samples. Graphical abstract.

Ready for TDM: Simultaneous quantification of amikacin, vancomycin and creatinine in human plasma employing ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

BackgroundAmikacin (AMI) and vancomycin (VAN) are antibiotics largely used in intensive care in the empiric treatment of severe infections by multi-resistant gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria. AMI and VAN are eliminated untransformed by glomerular filtration, showing depuration ratio highly correlated with creatinine (CRE) clearance. AMI, VAN and CRE are highly polar structures, presenting poor retention in reversed-phase liquid chromatography when using conventional stationary phases. ObjectiveThis study aimed to develop and validate a simple UPLC-MS/MS method for simultaneous determination of AMI, VAN, and CRE in human plasma for therapeutic drug monitoring. ResultsSamples were prepared by protein precipitation, followed by dilution. Heptafluorobutyric acid (HFBA) was added to the mobile phase at low concentration (0.01%), and separation was performed in an ultra-performance reversed-phase column (particle diameter of 1.8 μm). These conditions allowed retention times of 0.92, 0.93, 2.12, 2.17 and 2.27 min for CRE, CRE-D3, AMI, KAN and VAN, respectively. The assay was linear from 0.5 to 100 mg L−1 for AMI and VAN and 5 to 100 mg L−1. Precision, accuracy and stability assays were acceptable according to bioanalytical validation guidelines. Suitable results. Matrix effects were in the range of +10.5 to +11.6% for AMI, −4.3 to −4.5% for VAN, and − 1.7 to +0.7 for CRE. ConclusionThe first assay for the simultaneous determination of AMI, VAN and CRE in plasma by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry was reported. This assay allows the obtention of the necessary analytical data for the clinical application of population pharmacokinetic methods for therapeutic drug monitoring of AMI and VAN.

Ionic liquids as water-compatible GC stationary phases for the analysis of fragrances and essential oils

Fragrances and products deriving from essential oils are often formulated or diluted in aqueous media, usually ethanol/water. Gas chromatography (GC) is the technique of choice to analyze volatiles. However, when using columns coated with conventional stationary phases, its application to aqueous samples often requires time-consuming and/or discriminative sample preparation techniques to extract the target analytes from the aqueous medium, so as to avoid its direct injection. In GC with conventional columns, water produces peak asymmetry, poor sensitivity and efficiency, strong adsorption, stationary phase degradation, and, last but not least, it is not easy to detect reliably when present in high amounts. In 2012, Armstrong's group introduced new fully water-compatible ionic-liquid (IL)-based GC capillary columns based on phosphonium and imidazolium derivative cations combined with trifluoromethanesulphonate. These columns were recently made available commercially by Supelco, under the trade name Watercol™. These derivatives maintain IL's unique selectivity and chromatographic properties, and enable water to be used as injection solvent, thus avoiding the sample preparation procedures required by conventional columns. This study reports and critically discusses the results of commercially available water-compatible IL columns for direct analysis of aqueous samples in the fragrance and essential oil fields by GC with thermal conductivity (TCD) and/or flame ionization detectors (FID). The results showed that water-compatible IL-based stationary phases can successfully be adopted for qualitative and quantitative analysis of fragrances and essential oils directly diluted in aqueous solvents. On the other hand, the study also shows that their inertness needs to be further increased and (possibly) the range of operative temperature extended when water is the main solvent of the sample.

Suitability of 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium ionic liquids for the analysis of pharmaceutical formulations containing tricyclic antidepressants

The reversed-phase chromatographic behaviour of six tricyclic antidepressants (amitryptiline, clomipramine, doxepin, imipramine, nortryptiline and maprotiline) was examined in this work with acetonitrile-water mobile phases, in the absence and presence of the ionic liquids 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride and 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate, which have interesting features for the separation of basic compounds, in terms of peak shape combined with reduced retention. Tricyclic antidepressants are low polarity drugs that strongly associate to the alkyl chains of conventional stationary phases. They are also positively charged in the usual working pH range (2–8) in reversed-phase liquid chromatography, due to their strong basic character. In consequence, they may interact with the residual ionised silanols present in conventional silica-based stationary phases, which is translated in stronger retention, and tailed and broad peaks. A simple chromatographic procedure for the control of tricyclic antidepressants in pharmaceutical formulations was developed using a C8 column and a mobile phase containing 30% acetonitrile/10 mM 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride at pH 3, with UV detection. Intra- and inter-day precisions were usually below +1.0%, and intra- and inter-day bias (trueness) ranged between ‒2.1% and +2.4%, and between ‒3.0% and +2.3%, respectively. Sample preparation was simple and only required solubilisation and filtration previous to injection.

Polar stationary phases based on poly(oligo ethylene glycol)diacrylates for capillary gas chromatography

New stationary phases for capillary columns in GC are synthesized and studied. The phases are prepared by depositing oligo(ethylene glycol)diacrylates on the column walls and subsequent polymerization (crosslinking) in the presence of peroxide initiators. It is shown that stationary phases based on monomers with molecular weights of 10 kDa or higher exhibit separation properties similar to those of conventional stationary phases based on polyethylene glycol (PEG); however, their thermal stability is higher because they have a higher degree of crosslinking and a more ordered structure of the crosslinked polymers than the respective parameters of phases based on native PEG.

High sensitive non-derivative determination of cyclovirobuxin D by high-performance liquid chromatography-electrochemical determination

A high-performance liquid chromatography-electrochemical detection (HPLC-ECD) method was developed to determine cyclovirobuxin D (CVB-D) levels in tablets and human blood samples. A column with a positive charge-modified C18 stationary phase, C18HCE, was selected to analyze CVB-D, because it provided a sharper and more symmetric peak for CVB-D than conventional C18 stationary phase. Two types of working electrode materials, glassy carbon (GC) and boron-doped diamond (BDD), were evaluated. BDD was found to provide better sensitivity than GC owing to its lower background current and baseline noise. Utilizing the BDD electrode, C18HCE column, and optimized mobile phase composition, the developed HPLC-ECD method showed a much better sensitivity. The limit of detection and limit of quantification of the HPLC-ECD method for CVB-D were 0.198 and 0.297 μg/L, respectively. It was approximately 12727, 11481, and 2630 times more sensitive than ultraviolet (UV), evaporative light scattering detection, and charged aerosol detection, respectively. The sensitivity of the developed HPLC-ECD method was comparable or even better (16.8 times) than reported mass spectrometry (MS) methods for the determination of CVB-D. Additionally, it offered a much wider linear dynamic range (up to 4 orders of magnitude, 0.297-1891 μg/L) and was much less complicated than MS methods for determination of CVB-D. The developed HPLC-ECD method can be used for determination of CVB-D at both high and low concentrations. Good intra-day (relative standard deviation (RSD) of peak area<5.08%) and inter-day (RSD of peak area<5.57%) reproducibilities of the developed HPLC-ECD method were obtained even for a low mass concentration (59.1 μg/L) sample. After the optimized parameters were acquired, this method was applied to the quantitative analysis of CVB-D in CVB-D tablets and human blood samples. With a slight modification, the current HPLC-ECD method can also be applied to analyze many other basic compounds including basic drugs and environmental pollutants.

Conventional and enantioselective gas chromatography with microfabricated planar columns for analysis of real-world samples of plant volatile fraction

Within a project exploring the application of lab-on-chip GC to in-field analysis of the plant volatile fraction, this study evaluated the performance of a set of planar columns (also known as microchannels, MEMS columns, or microfabricated columns) of different dimensions installed in a conventional GC unit. Circular double-spiral-shaped-channel planar columns with different square/rectangular sections up to 2m long were applied to the analysis of both essential oils and headspace samples of a group of medicinal and aromatic plants (chamomile, peppermint, sage, rosemary, lavender and bergamot) and of standard mixtures of related compounds; the results were compared to those obtained with reference narrow-bore columns (l:5m, dc:0.1mm, df:0.1μm). The above essential oils and headspaces were first analyzed quali-and quantitatively with planar columns statically coated with conventional stationary phases (5%-phenyl-polymethylsiloxane and auto-bondable nitroterephthalic-acid-modified polyethylene glycol), and then submitted to chiral recognition of their diagnostic markers, by enantioselective GC with a planar columns coated with a cyclodextrin derivative (30% 6I–VII-O-TBDMS-3I–VII-O-ethyl-2I–VII-O-ethyl-β-cyclodextrin in PS-086). Column characteristics and analysis conditions were first optimized to obtain suitable retention and efficiency for the samples investigated. The planar columns tested showed performances close to the reference conventional narrow-bore columns, with theoretical plate numbers per meter (N/m) ranging from 6100 to 7200 for those coated with the conventional stationary phases, and above 5600 for those with the chiral selector.

Perhydroxylcucurbit[6]uril as a highly selective gas chromatographic stationary phase for analytes of wide-ranging polarity.

This work describes the separation performance of a perhydroxylcucurbit[6]uril stationary phase for capillary gas chromatography. The perhydroxylcucurbit[6]uril stationary phase exhibits higher resolving capabilities for critical analytes with better peak shapes than cucurbit[6]uril and conventional stationary phases. The advantageous separation feature of the perhydroxylcucurbit[6]uril stationary phase may originate from its unique structure and favorably balanced interactions with the analytes. Also, the perhydroxylcucurbit[6]uril column shows good separation repeatability with relative standard deviations in the range of 0.01-0.13% for intraday, 0.37-0.82% for interday, and 1.0-4.7% for column-to-column repeatability.

Amphiphilic selectivity of guanidinium-based ionic liquid stationary phase for structural and positional isomers

The investigated GBIL stationary phase exhibits high selectivity for a wide ranging polarity of analytes and shows advantages over the conventional polar stationary phase.

Use of an o-Benzyl-(S)-Serine Containing Eluent for the Efficient Ligand-Exchange Chromatography-Based Enantioseparation of Constrained Glutamate Receptor Ligands

Four dihydroisoxazole prolines and four dihydroisoxazole cyclopentane derivatives were submitted to chiral ligand-exchange chromatographic analysis in the presence of O-benzyl-(S)-serine, as the chiral mobile phase additive to the eluent. The 1.0 mM O-benzyl-(S)-serine and 0.5 mM Cu(NO3)2 eluent flowed at 1.0 mL/min through a conventional octadecylsilica-based stationary phase maintained at 25°C and provided excellent levels of enantioselectivity and resolution for all the species. By using enantiomers as model compounds, the method was validated revealing that the mixed ternary diastereomeric eluates present slightly different spectroscopic properties. The selected chiral ligand-exchange chromatography method was applied for semi-preparative enantioisolation that allowed the establishment of the k(−) < k(+) enantiomeric elution order.

Separation performance of cucurbit[7]uril in ionic liquid-based sol-gel coating as stationary phase for capillary gas chromatography

Here we report the separation performance of a new stationary phase of cucurbit[7]uril (CB7) incorporated into an ionic liquid-based sol-gel coating (CB7-SG) for capillary gas chromatography (GC). The CB7-SG stationary phase showed an average polarity of 455, suggesting its polar nature. Abraham system constants revealed that its major interactions with analytes include H-bond basicity (a), dipole–dipole (s) and dispersive (l) interactions. The CB7-SG stationary phase achieved baseline separation for a wide range of analytes with symmetrical peak shapes and showed advantages over the conventional polar stationary phase that failed to resolve some critical analytes. Also, it exhibited different retention behaviors from the conventional stationary phase in terms of retention times and elution order. Most interestingly, in contrast to the conventional polar phase, the CB7-SG stationary phase exhibited longer retentions for analytes of lower polarity but relatively comparable retentions for polar analytes such as alcohols and phenols. The high resolving ability and unique retention behaviors of the CB7-SG stationary phase may stem from the comprehensive interactions of the aforementioned interactions and shape selectivity. Moreover, the CB7-SG column showed good peak shapes for analytes prone to peak tailing, good thermal stability up to 280°C and separation repeatability with RSD values in the range of 0.01–0.11% for intra-day, 0.04–0.41% for inter-day and 2.5–6.0% for column-to-column, respectively. As demonstrated, the proposed coating method can simultaneously address the solubility problem with CBs for the intended purpose and achieve outstanding GC separation performance.

Separation performance of graphene oxide as stationary phase for capillary gas chromatography

Abstract Graphene oxide (GO) has attracted extensive attention due to its unique properties and potential applications. Here, we report the investigation of GO nanosheets as a stationary phase for capillary gas chromatographic (GC) separations. The GO column, fabricated by a new one-step coating approach, showed average McReynolds constants of 308, suggesting the medium polar nature of the GC stationary phase. The GO stationary phase achieves good separation for analytes of different types with good peak shapes, especially for H-bonding analytes, such as alcohols and amines. The different retention behaviors of GO stationary phase from the conventional stationary phase may originate from its multiple interactions with analytes, involving H-bonding, dipole–dipole, π–π stacking and dispersive interactions. Moreover, GO column showed good separation reproducibility with relative standard deviation (RSD%) less than 0.24% (n = 5) on retention times of analytes.

Separation of Isomers on Nematic Liquid Crystal Stationary Phases in Gas Chromatography: A Review

Understanding the composition of complex hydrocarbon mixtures is important for environmental studies in diverse fields, but many prevalent compounds cannot be confidently identified using traditional gas chromatography (GC) techniques. Increasing requirements on analyses of isomeric compounds and the problems encountered in their separation demand a study of more efficient systems which exhibit a high selectivity. Kelker and Fresenius first used nematic liquid crystals as stereospecific stationary phases in GC. Nematic liquid crystal has shown this particular selectivity and sensitivity as stationary phases for the separation of isomers having similar volatilities. Because of their unique selectivity towards rigid solute isomers, liquid crystal stationary phases were considered at one time to be a very promising class of materials that give gas chromatographic separations very different from those that can be obtained with any other stationary phase. Since then, a great deal of attention has been paid to the separation properties of this relatively wide group of substances. Liquid crystal can be used to separate a variety of compounds including isomer mixtures which cannot be separated on conventional stationary phases. This paper aims to review all specific experimental results and presents a comparative analytical study of monomeric nematic liquid crystal stationary phases used in GC. A further contribution of this review is in the field of isomeric compounds separation.

Using Lanthanum Fluoride Fine Particles as Stationary Phase for Thin-Layer Chromatography/Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy Analysis

While in situ TLC/FTIR technique has tremendous potential in the analysis of complex mixtures, the conventional stationary phase, such as silica gel, used for TLC/FTIR analysis, has strong absorption in IR region and thus brings about severe interference in the obtained FTIR spectra of the separated samples. In this work, we propose to use lanthanum fluoride fine particles as a new stationary phase of a TLC plate. The average size of LaF3 particles is around 100 nm. FTIR spectrum of the LaF3 particles has no interfering absorption. Preliminary TLC experiments show that mixtures of rhodamine B and methylene blue mixture can be successfully separated by this new TLC plate using LaF3 fine particles as a stationary phase. Methylene blue and rhodamine B from separated spot can be clearly detected by using in situ FTIR spectra.

Unprecedented separation of long chain alkenones from gas chromatography with a poly(trifluoropropylmethylsiloxane) stationary phase

Long chain alkenones (LCAs) have played a central role in reconstructing paleo-sea surface temperature throughout much of the world oceans. The standard method for LCA separation and quantification utilizes gas chromatography (GC) with a non-polar column and flame ionization detection (FID). The method has remained nearly unchanged since the debut of alkenone paleothermometry over three decades ago. The conventional stationary phase used [poly(dimethylsiloxane)] is adequate for calculation of the U37K′ index for most marine samples, but performs poorly in the separation of methyl and ethyl C38 LCAs and fails to separate certain lacustrine LCAs, including structural isomers featuring differing double bond and carbonyl positions. Here, we demonstrate major improvements in the selectivity and resolution of numerous LCAs using a mid-polarity, dipole selective poly(trifluoropropylmethylsiloxane) GC stationary phase with FID. Various columns featuring this phase achieved baseline resolution of all C38 LCAs in a marine sediment and Emiliania huxleyi culture samples, improving peak resolution of C38 LCAs by>350%. Such dipole selective stationary phases also reveal novel tri-unsaturated isomeric LCAs in lacustrine samples, for which we provide the first report and preliminary characterization. We conduct a thorough evaluation of LCA retention behavior on poly(trifluoropropylmethylsiloxane) and poly(dimethylsiloxane) columns and report an optimal range of operating conditions for both phases.

Green ultra‐fast high‐performance liquid chromatographic method using a short narrow‐bore column packed with fully porous sub‐2 μm particles for the simultaneous determination of selected pharmaceuticals as surface water and wastewater pollutants

Fast separations are very desirable in laboratories that analyze large numbers of samples per day or those needing short turn-around times. Traditional HPLC methods using conventional stationary phases and standard column dimensions require significant amounts of organic solvents and generate large volumes of waste. With growing awareness about the environment, the development of green technologies has been receiving increasing attention. In this work, a very fast green analytical method based on LC-UV using a short narrow bore column packed with fully porous sub-2 μm particles has been developed for simultaneous determination of nine pharmaceuticals in wastewater and surface water. The chromatographic separation was optimized in order to achieve short analysis time and good resolution for all analytes in a single run. All analytes could be separated in 1 min with good resolution. Sample preparation was executed by solid phase extraction using Oasis HLB cartridges. The method developed was validated based on parameters such as linearity, precision, accuracy, detection, and quantification limits. The recovery ranged from 70.9 to 92.5% with SDs not higher than 5.4%, except for acetaminophen and sulphanilamide. LODs ranged from 0.6-2.5 μg/L, while the LOQs were in the range 2-8 μg/L.

High-Temperature Separations on a Polymer-Coated Fibrous Stationary Phase in Microcolumn Liquid Chromatography

Novel polymer-coated fiber-packed microcolumns in liquid chromatography (LC) have been developed. Typical polymeric materials, such as polydimethylsiloxane and polyethyleneglycol, which are conventional stationary phases of capillary columns in gas chromatography (GC), have been employed as coating materials onto the surface of fine filaments. Packed longitudinally with a bundle of polymer-coated filaments into a stainless-steel capillary of 0.8 mm i.d., 150 mm length, several types of polymer-coated fiber-packed columns were prepared, and the retention behavior of aromatic compounds on these columns has been studied. A good linear relationship was obtained for van't Hoff plots over the temperature range between 0 and 200 °C, clearly indicating an excellent heat-resistant property of these polymer-coated fibrous stationary phases. Taking advantage of the heat-resistant feature of the fibrous stationary phases, the separation of several test mixtures with temperature-programmed elution was studied, where a solvent gradient program was additionally introduced if needed. Separation was also carried out with pure water as the mobile phase using an appropriate temperature program.