Organic Mobile Phase Research Articles

Analytical and semipreparative chiral separation of cis-itraconazole on cellulose stationary phases by high-performance liquid chromatography.

cis-Itraconazole is a chiral antifungal drug administered as a racemate. The knowledge of properties of individual cis-itraconazole stereoisomers is vital information for medicine and biosciences as different stereoisomers of cis-itraconazole may possess different affinity to certain biological pathways in the human body. For this purpose, either chiral synthesis of enantiomers or chiral separation of racemate can be used. This paper presents a two-step high-performance liquid chromatography approach for the semipreparative isolation of four stereoisomers (two enantiomeric pairs) of itraconazole using polysaccharide stationary phases and volatile organic mobile phases without additives in isocratic mode. The approach used involves the separation of the racemate into three fractions (i.e. two pure stereoisomers and one mixed fraction containing the remaining two stereoisomers) in the first run and consequent separation of the collected mixed fraction in the second one. For this purpose, combination of cellulose tris-(4-methylbenzoate) and cellulose tris-(3,5-dimehylphenylcarbamate) columns with complementary selectivity for cis-itraconazole provided full separation of all four stereoisomers (with purity of each isomer > 97%). The stereoisomers were collected, their optical rotation determined and their identity confirmed based on the results of a previously published study. Pure separated stereoisomers are subjected to further biological studies.

Separation and Characterization of Triterpenoid Saponins in Gleditsia sinensis by Comprehensive Two-Dimensional Liquid Chromatography Coupled with Mass Spectrometry.

A comprehensive two-dimensional liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry method was established to separate and characterize triterpenoid saponins in Gleditsia sinensis, the Chinese herbal medicine Zhu-Ya-Zao used for the treatment of apoplexy. The saponins were separated on an Agilent Zorbax Eclipse plus C18 column (2.1 mm × 150 mm, 1.8 µm) for the first dimension, and a Poroshell 120 phenyl-hexyl column (3.0 mm × 50 mm, 2.7 µm) for the second dimension. Methanol and acetonitrile were used as the organic mobile phase for 1D and 2D, respectively. The theoretical peak capacity was 640, and the orthogonality was 57 %. Particularly, saponins with different numbers of monoterpene groups could be well separated on the second dimension. The structures were characterized by electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry in both positive and negative ion modes. In the MS/MS spectra, the relative abundances for [B α + Na]+ and [Y 0α + Na]+ were closely correlated with the number of sugar residues of the α-chain and β-chain, respectively, which facilitated the differentiation of isomers. Finally, a total of 72 saponins with molecular weights greater than 1500 Da were characterized. Among them, 49 compounds, including 2 acetylated saponins, were detected from G. sinensis for the first time.

Dual Retention Mechanism in Two-Dimensional LC Separations of Barbiturates, Sulfonamides, Nucleic Bases and Nucleosides on Polymethacrylate Zwitterionic Monolithic Micro-Columns

In-house prepared zwitterionic polymethacrylate micro-columns using in situ polymerization of N,N-dimethyl-N-metacryloxyethyl-N-(3-sulfopropyl) ammonium betaine (MEDSA) functional monomer with bisphenol A glycerolate dimethacrylate (BIGDMA) cross-linker provided excellent stability and reproducibility of preparation and separation efficiency of 60,000–70,000 theoretical plates m−1 for small molecules under isocratic conditions. The column showed a dual retention mechanism, reversed-phase (RP) in highly aqueous mobile phases and aqueous normal-phase (HILIC) in acetonitrile-rich mobile phases. This property can be used to obtain complementary separation and combined information on the sample from repeated injections of a sample on a single column, in different mobile phases characteristic for the HILIC and for the RP modes, which is in fact a form of offline two-dimensional chromatography on a single column. The dual retention mechanism has been observed with a variety of columns, however, often with impractically narrow retention range in one of the two modes. To take full advantage from the combined single-column RP–HILIC experiments, the column should provide a sufficiently broad mobile phase interval both in the RP and in the HILIC mode. The BIGDMA-MEDSA micro-columns proved suitable earlier for the combined RP–HILIC separations of some phenolic compounds and flavonoids. In the present work, we investigated the effects of the mobile phase composition on the retention of a variety of polar compounds over full retention range of buffered aqueous acetonitrile mobile phases, to find potentially useful HILIC and RP retention ranges for barbiturates, sulfonamides, nucleosides and nucleic bases. In the HILIC mode, proton donor–acceptor interactions show a major effect on retention and selectivity of separation, whereas the size of the non-polar hydrocarbon part of the sample molecule is the most important factor in the water-rich mobile phases. The sample structure strongly affects the composition of aqueous–organic mobile phases at which the transition between the two retention modes occurs. Of the investigated sample types, barbiturates show better separation under reversed-phase conditions, whereas nucleosides and nucleic bases in the HILIC mode. Aromatic carboxylic acids and sulfonamides can be separated either in the reversed phase or under HILIC conditions, the two separation modes showing complementary selectivity of separation.

Pre-column dilution large volume injection ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry for the analysis of multi-class pesticides in cabbages

Pre-column dilution large volume injection (PD-LVI), a novel sample injection technique for reverse phase ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC–MS/MS), was developed in this study. The PD-LVI UHPLC–MS/MS system was designed by slightly modifying the commercial UHPLC–MS/MS equipment with a mixer chamber. During the procedure of PD-LVI, sample solution of 200μL was directly carried by the organic mobile phase to the mixer and diluted with the aqueous mobile phase. After the mixture was introduced to the UHPLC column in a mobile phase of acetonitrile-water (15/85, v/v), the target analytes were stacked on the head of the column until following separation. Using QuEChERS extraction, no additional steps such as solvent evaporation or residue redissolution were needed before injection. The features of PD-LVI UHPLC–MS/MS system were systematically investigated, including the injection volume, the mixer volume, the precondition time and the gradient elution. The efficiency of this approach was demonstrated by direct analysis of 24 pesticides in cabbages. Under the optimized conditions, low limits of detection (0.00074–0.8ng/kg) were obtained. The recoveries were in the range of 63.3–109% with relative standard deviations less than 8.1%. Compared with common UHPLC–MS/MS technique, PD-LVI UHPLC–MS/MS showed significant advantages such as excellent sensitivity and reliability. The mechanism of PD-LVI was demonstrated to be based on the column-head stacking effect with pre-column dilution. Based on the results, PD-LVI as a simple and effective sample injection technique of reverse phase UHPLC–MS/MS for the analysis of trace analytes in complex samples showed a great promising prospect.

Enantioselective HPLC separation of bioactive C5-chiral 2-pyrazolines on lux amylose-2 and lux cellulose-2: Comparative and mechanistic approaches

ABSTRACTStereoselective analytical HPLC separations have been developed for a series of biologically active chiral 2-pyrazolines (1-22) to be used in monitoring their resolution reactions or to custom semipreparative HPLC separations prior to biological assessment of both enantiomers. Polysaccharide-based chiral stationary phases (CSPs), namely, Lux amylose-2 and cellulose-2, have been used. Both normal (n-hexane/ethanol) and polar organic (ethanol, methanol, acetonitrile, or mixtures thereof) elution modes were very beneficial for the achievement of baseline separations. The impact of various chemical moieties embedded in the structures of 2-pyrazolines 1-22 and the adopted stationary phases on chiral recognition has been investigated. A case of reversed order of elution following alterations in either stationary phase or elution mode has been observed. Our findings recommend that normal elution mode can be used for optimizing semipreparative HPLC methods whereas polar organic mobile phases (such as acetonitrile and ethanol) are more suited to stereoselective reactions monitoring, routine quality control work, or for pharmacological and toxicological assays. These results settle the implementation of polysaccharide-based CSPs using different elution modes and declare the practicality of such CSPs in stereoselective HPLC.

Chromatographic separation of germanium and arsenic for the production of high purity 77As

A simple column chromatographic method was developed to isolate 77As (94±6% (EtOH/HCl); 74±11 (MeOH)) from germanium for potential use in radioimmunotherapy. The separation of arsenic from germanium was based on their relative affinities for different chromatographic materials in aqueous and organic environments. Using an organic or mixed mobile phase, germanium was selectively retained on a silica gel column as germanate, while arsenic was eluted from the column as arsenate. Subsequently, enriched 76Ge (98±2) was recovered for reuse by elution with aqueous solution (neutral to basic). Greater than 98% radiolabeling yield of a 77As-trithiol was observed from methanol separated [77As]arsenate [17].

Fragmental Method KowWIN as the Powerful Tool for Prediction of Chromatographic Behavior of Novel Bioactive Urea Derivatives

A series of the new urea derivatives with antinociceptive activity has been chromatographically evaluated using reversed phase materials: Zorbax Extend-C18, Cogent UDC Cholesterol with organic-aqueous eluent systems with two organic modifiers (methanol and acetonitrile). The chromatographic lipophilicity parameters: log kw, S and φ0 were determined basing on linear relationship between log k values and concentration of organic mobile phase modifier. The structure-retention studies revealed that the retention mechanism for all studied urea derivatives is uniform for the proposed chromatographic systems. However, a few exceptions were noticed. Derivatives containing nonpolar substituents in the imidazole ring acted as outliers for cholesterol column. In turn, the derivative containing ester polar substituent acted as an outlier in conventional reversed-phase system. Quantitative relationships based on a wide set of established computational molecular descriptors and experimental chromatographic data were also developed. Through a systematic study, by using the principal component analysis, fragmental method KowWIN appeared to be the most powerful software to produce reliable estimations of experimental retention parameters obtained on cholesterol column.

High-performance liquid chromatographic separations of stereoisomers of chiral basic agrochemicals with polysaccharide-based chiral columns and polar organic mobile phases.

The separation of the stereoisomers of 23 chiral basic agrochemicals was studied on six different polysaccharide-based chiral columns in high-performance liquid chromatography with various polar organic mobile phases. Along with the successful separation of analyte stereoisomers, emphasis was placed on the effect of the chiral selector and mobile phase composition on the elution order of stereoisomers. The interesting phenomenon of reversal of enantiomer/stereoisomer elution order function of the polysaccharide backbone (cellulose or amylose), type of derivative (carbamate or benzoate), nature, and position of the substituent(s) in the phenylcarbamate moiety (methyl or chloro) and the nature of the mobile phase was observed. For several of the analytes containing two chiral centers all four stereoisomers were resolved with at least one chiral selector/mobile phase combination.

A New Stationary Phase for Analysis of Hydrophobic Compounds by RP-LC

Hydrophobic selectivity is a key factor that has made C18-bonded phases the main separation materials for HPLC since its development. However, hydrophobic compounds tend to be strongly retained in these phases meaning that large amounts of organic mobile phases are required. In this work, a new stationary phase was prepared from the immobilization of poly(dimethyl-co-alkylmethylsiloxane) (PDAS) over silica particles using microwave radiation. The optimized conditions for preparation of the stationary phase used 720 W of radiation for 10 min. The chromatographic performance and methylene selectivity in the separation of hydrophobic compounds by this new Si(PDAS) phase were similar to those obtained by typical C18-bonded phases. However, the lower hydrophobicity of the organic layer in the Si(PDAS) phase resulted in separation about 40 % faster than typical C18 phases, requiring more aqueous mobile phases. The Si(PDAS) phase showed lower silanophilic activity than that of typical C18 phases due to a more effective polymeric coating of the silica surface.

Development and validation of a rapid ultra-high performance liquid chromatography method for the assay of benzalkonium chloride using a quality-by-design approach

A rapid robust reversed-phase UHPLC method has been developed for the analysis of total benzalkonium chloride in preserved drug formulation. A systematic Quality-by-Design (QbD) method development approach using commercial, off the shelf software (Fusion AE®) has been used to optimize the column, mobile phases, gradient time, and other HPLC conditions. Total benzalkonium chloride analysis involves simple sample preparation. The method uses gradient elution from an ACE Excel 2 C18-AR column (50mm×2.1mm, 2.0μm particle size), ammonium phosphate buffer (pH 3.3; 10mM) as aqueous mobile phase and methanol/acetonitrile (85/15, v/v) as the organic mobile phase with UV detection at 214nm. Using these conditions, major homologs of the benzalkonium chloride (C12 and C14) have been separated in less than 2.0min. The validation results confirmed that the method is precise, accurate and linear at concentrations ranging from 0.025mg/mL to 0.075mg/mL for total benzalkonium chloride. The recoveries ranged from 99% to 103% at concentrations from 0.025mg/mL to 0.075mg/mL for total benzalkonium chloride. The validation results also confirmed the robustness of the method as predicted by Fusion AE®.

Separation of cannabinoids on three different mixed-mode columns containing carbon/nanodiamond/amine-polymer superficially porous particles.

Three mixed-mode high-performance liquid chromatography columns packed with superficially porous carbon/nanodiamond/amine-polymer particles were used to separate mixtures of cannabinoids. Columns evaluated included: (i) reversed phase (C18 ), weak anion exchange, 4.6 × 33 mm, 3.6 μm, and 4.6 × 100 mm, 3.6 μm, (ii) reversed phase, strong anion exchange (quaternary amine), 4.6×33 mm, 3.6 μm, and (iii) hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography, 4.6 × 150 mm, 3.6 μm. Different selectivities were achieved under various mobile phase and stationary phase conditions. Efficiencies and peak capacities were as high as 54 000 N/m and 56, respectively. The reversed phase mixed-mode column (C18 ) retained tetrahydrocannabinolic acid strongly under acidic conditions and weakly under basic conditions. Tetrahydrocannabinolic acid was retained strongly on the reversed phase, strong anion exchange mixed-mode column under basic polar organic mobile phase conditions. The hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography column retained polar cannabinoids better than the (more) neutral ones under basic conditions. A longer reversed phase (C18 ) mixed-mode column (4.6 × 100 mm) showed better resolution for analytes (and a contaminant) than a shorter column. Fast separations were achieved in less than 5 min and sometimes 2 min. A real world sample (bubble hash extract) was also analyzed by gradient elution.

Enantiomer separation of acidic chiral compounds on a quinine-silica/zirconia hybrid monolith by capillary electrochromatography

A weak anion-exchanger chiral selector, quinine-incorporated silica/zirconia hybrid monolithic (QUI-S/ZHM) capillary column was prepared by sol–gel technology. The performance of the QUI-S/ZHM column was investigated for enantioresolution of a set of acidic chiral drugs and dinitrobenzoyl (DNB)-amino acids by capillary electrochromatography in aqueous organic mobile phases composed of acetonitrile (ACN) and triethylammonium acetate (TEAA) buffer. Effects of several parameters including the ACN content, concentration and pH of the mobile phase on the chiral separation were examined. Baseline resolutions of all the compounds were obtained in the mobile phase consisting of 70:30 ACN/TEAA (10mM, pH 6) under applied voltage of −10kV at 25°C within 20min.

HPLC Separation of Enantiomers of Some Chiral Carboxylic Acid Derivatives Using Polysaccharide-Based Chiral Columns and Polar Organic Mobile Phases

The separation of enantiomers of 14 chiral carboxylic acid derivatives was studied on six different polysaccharide-based chiral columns in high-performance liquid chromatography with methanol, ethanol and acetonitrile as mobile phases with emphasis on the elution order of enantiomers. Some interesting examples of enantiomer elution order reversal were observed as a function of the nature and composition of chiral selector and mobile phase. For instance, the enantiomer elution order for carprofen, ketorolac, naproxen, proglumide and surprofen reversed with changing the chemical structure of the chiral selector. Also, the enantiomer elution order for carprofen, ketorolac and naproxen changed by varying the composition of the mobile phase. In addition, the interesting effect of column temperature on the retention and separation of some analytes was observed. For instance, the enantiomers of surprofen were only partially resolved at lower temperatures but baseline resolved at higher temperature.

Pharmacokinetics of Rac inhibitor EHop-016 in mice by ultra-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry.

The Rho GTPase Rac is an important regulator of cancer cell migration and invasion; processes required for metastatic progression. We previously characterized the small molecule EHop-016 as a novel Rac inhibitor in metastatic breast cancer cells and recently found that EHop-016 was effective at reducing tumor growth in nude mice at 25 mg/kg bodyweight (BW). The purpose of this study was to compare the pharmacokinetics and bioavailability of EHop-016 at different dosages in a single dose input scheme (10, 20 and 40 mg/kg BW) following intraperitoneal (IP) and oral gavage (PO) administration to nude mice. We developed and validated a rapid and sensitive method for the quantitation of EHop-016 in mouse plasma by ultra high performance liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC/MS/MS). Separation was carried out on an Agilent Poroshell 120 EC-C18 column (3.0 mm × 50 mm) using organic and aqueous mobile phases. EHop-016 was identified from its accurate mass and retention time from the acquired full-scan chromatogram and quantified by its peak area. The validated method was linear (R(2)>0.995) over the range of 5-1000 ng/mL (1/x(2) weighting). Pharmacokinetic parameters were obtained by non-compartmental analysis using WinNonlin. The area under the curve (AUC₀-∞) ranged from 328 to 1869 ng h/mL and 133-487 ng h/mL for IP and PO dosing, respectively. The elimination half-life (t₁/₂) ranged from 3.8-5.7 h to 3.4-26.8 h for IP and PO dosing, respectively. For both IP and PO administration, the AUC₀-∞values were proportional to the tested doses demonstrating linear PK profiles. The relative bioavailability of EHop-016 after oral gavage administration ranged from 26% to 40%. These results support further preclinical evaluation of EHop-016 as a new anti-cancer therapy.

Separation and Identification of Some Metal Cations by TLC using Mixture of urea Formaldehyde Polymer and Starch as a Stationary Phase.

The chromatographic behaviour of eight metal ions has been studied on mixture of laboratory prepared Urea formaldehyde and Starch as adsorbent layers using acidic and organic mobile phase. Starch and Urea formaldehyde are found to be more effective for the binary and ternary separation of metal cations. The effect of mobile phases were also studied on the retention behaviour of metal cations on various mixture of urea formaldehyde and starch as adsorbent layers.

Development and Validation of Reversed-Phase High Performance Liquid Chromatographic Method for Hydroxychloroquine Sulphate.

In the present work new, simple reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatographic method was developed and validated for the determination of hydroxychloroquine sulphate in blood plasma. Chloroquine sulphate was used as an internal standard. The chromatographic separation was achieved with octadecyl silane Hypersil C18 column (250×6 mm, 5 μm) using water and organic (acetonitrile:methanol: 50:50, v/v) mobile phase in 75:25 v/v ratio, with sodium 1-pentanesulfonate and phosphoric acid. This organic phase was maintained at pH 3.0 by orthophosphoric acid. The flow rate of 2.0 ml/min(.) with detection at 343 nm was used in the analysis. The calibration curve of standard hydroxychloroquine sulphate was linear in range 0.1-20.0 μg/ml. The method was validated with respected to linearity, range, precision, accuracy, specificity and robustness studies according to ICH guidelines. The method was found to be accurate and robust to analyze the hydroxychloroquine sulphate in plasma samples.

Systematic evaluation of commercially available ultra-high performance liquid chromatography columns for drug metabolite profiling: Optimization of chromatographic peak capacity

The present study investigated the practical use of modern ultra-high performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) separation techniques for drug metabolite profiling, aiming to develop a widely applicable, high-throughput, easy-to-use chromatographic method, with a high chromatographic resolution to accommodate simultaneous qualitative and quantitative analysis of small-molecule drugs and metabolites in biological matrices. To this end, first the UHPLC system volume and variance were evaluated. Then, a mixture of 17 drugs and various metabolites (molecular mass of 151–749Da, logP of −1.04 to 6.7), was injected on six sub-2μm particle columns. Five newest generation core shell technology columns were compared and tested against one column packed with porous particles. Two aqueous (pH 2.7 and 6.8) and two organic mobile phases were evaluated, first with the same flow and temperature and subsequently at each column's individual limit of temperature and pressure. The results demonstrated that pre-column dead volume had negligible influence on the peak capacity and shape. In contrast, a decrease in post-column volume of 57% resulted in a substantial (47%) increase in median peak capacity and significantly improved peak shape. When the various combinations of stationary and mobile phases were used at the same flow rate (0.5mL/min) and temperature (45°C), limited differences were observed between the median peak capacities, with a maximum of 26%. At higher flow though (up to 0.9mL/min), a maximum difference of almost 40% in median peak capacity was found between columns. The finally selected combination of solid-core particle column and mobile phase composition was chosen for its selectivity, peak capacity, wide applicability and peak shape. The developed method was applied to rat hepatocyte samples incubated with the drug buspirone and demonstrated to provide a similar chromatographic resolution, but a 6 times higher signal-to-noise ratio than a more traditional UHPLC metabolite profiling method using a fully porous particle packed column, within one third of the analysis time. In conclusion, a widely applicable, selective and fast chromatographic method was developed that can be applied to perform drug metabolite profiling in the timeframe of a quantitative analysis. It is envisioned that this method will in future be used for simultaneous qualitative and quantitative analysis and can therefore be considered a first important step in the Quan/Qual workflow.

Preparative separation of quaternary ammonium alkaloids from Coptis chinensis Franch by pH-zone-refining counter-current chromatography

pH-zone-refining counter-current chromatography was successfully applied to the preparative separation of five quaternary ammonium alkaloids from the crude extract of Coptis chinensis Franch. The separation was performed with a two-phase solvent system composed of chloroform–methanol–water (4:3:3, v/v), where the upper aqueous stationary phase was added with 60mM of hydrochloric acid and the lower organic mobile phase with 5mM of triethylamine. From 1.0g of crude extract, 5.4mg of columbamine at 96.6% purity, 6.1mg of jateorhizine at 98.8% purity, 58.3mg of coptisine at 99.5% purity, 25.6mg of palmatine at 98.4% purity and 503.9mg of berberine at 99.5% purity were obtained. The purities of the isolated alkaloids were analyzed by HPLC and the chemical structures were identified by electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry and 1H NMR.

HILIC-MS for metabolomics: An attractive and complementary approach to RPLC-MS.

Hydrophilic interaction chromatography (HILIC) is an emerging separation mode of liquid chromatography (LC). Using highly hydrophilic stationary phases capable of retaining polar/ionic metabolites, and accompany with high organic content mobile phase that offer readily compatibility with mass spectrometry (MS) has made HILIC an attractive complementary tool to the widely used reverse-phase (RP) chromatographic separations in metabolomic studies. The combination of HILIC and RPLC coupled with an MS detector expands the number of detected analytes and provides more comprehensive metabolite coverage than use of only RP chromatography. This review describes the recent applications of HILIC-MS/MS in metabolomic studies, ranging from amino acids, lipids, nucleotides, organic acids, pharmaceuticals, and metabolites of specific nature. The biological systems investigated include microbials, cultured cell line, plants, herbal medicine, urine, and serum as well as tissues from animals and humans. Owing to its unique capability to measure more-polar biomolecules, the HILIC separation technique would no doubt enhance the comprehensiveness of metabolite detection, and add significant value for metabolomic investigations. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Mass Spec Rev 35:574-600, 2016.

Reaction profiling by ultra high-pressure liquid chromatography/time-of-flight mass spectrometry in support of the synthesis of DNA-encoded libraries.

An ultra high-pressure liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (UHPLC/MS) separation and analysis method has been devised for open access analysis of synthetic reactions used in the production of DNA-encoded chemical libraries. The aqueous mobile phase is 100mM hexafluoroisopropanol and 8.6mM triethylamine; the organic mobile phase is methanol. The UHPLC separation uses a C18 OST column (50mm×2.1mm×1.7μm) at 60°C, with a flow rate of 0.6mL/min. Gradient concentration is from 10 to 40% B in 1.0min, increasing to 95% B at 1.2min. Cycle time was about 5min. This method provides a detection limit of a 20-mer oligonucleotide by mass spectrometry of better than 1pmol on-column. Linear UV response for 20-mer extends from 2 to 200pmol/μL in concentration, same-day relative average deviations are less than 5% and bias (observed minus expected) is less than 10%. Deconvoluted mass spectra are generated for components in the predicted mass range using a maximum entropy algorithm. Mass accuracy of deconvoluted spectra is typically 20ppm or better for isotopomers of oligonucleotides up to 7000Da.