Investigation of the effect of pressure on retention of small molecules using reversed-phase ultra-high-pressure liquid chromatography.

The effect of inlet pressure on the retention of a series of low molecular weight acids, bases and neutrals, was investigated at constant temperature in reversed-phase liquid chromatography using a commercial ultra-high-pressure system (Waters UPLC instrument). For neutral compounds, relatively small increases in retention factor of up to approximately 12% for a pressure increase of 500bar were noted; the largest values were obtained for polar solutes, or solutes of higher molecular weight. Ionisable acids and bases gave much larger increases in retention with pressure, in some cases as high as 50% for a pressure increase of 500bar. Thus, such compounds could show increases in retention factor approaching 100% over the pressure range available in the commercial UPLC instrument. Due to these differential increases, significant selectivity effects can be obtained for mixtures of different types of solute merely by changing the pressure.

Further investigations of the effect of pressure on retention in ultra-high-pressure liquid chromatography.

In this study, we investigated further the large increases in retention with pressure that we observed previously in RP-LC especially for ionised solutes. These findings were initially confirmed on a conventional silica C(18) column, which gave extremely similar results to the hybrid C(18) phase originally used. Large increases in retention factor of approximately 50% for a pressure increase of 500 bar were also shown for high MW polar but neutral solutes. However, experiments with the same bases in ionised and non-ionised forms suggest that somewhat greater pressure-induced retention increases are found for ionised solutes. Retention increases with pressure were found to be considerably smaller for a C(1) column compared with a C(18) column; decreases in retention with increasing pressure were noted for ionised bases when using a bare silica column in the hydrophilic interaction chromatography (HILIC) mode. These observations are consistent with the partial loss of the solvation layer in RP-LC as the solute is forced into the hydrophobic environment of the stationary phase, and consequent reduction in the solute molar volume, while the water layer on the surface of a HILIC packing increases the hydration of a basic analyte. Finally, retention changes with pressure in RP-LC can also be observed at a mobile phase pH close to the solute pK(a), due to changes in pK(a) with pressure. However, this effect has no influence on the results of most of our studies.

Practical assessment of frictional heating effects and thermostat design on the performance of conventional (3 microm and 5 microm) columns in reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography.

A practical investigation of frictional heating effects in conventional C18 columns was undertaken, to investigate whether problems found for sub-2 microm columns were also present for those of particle size 3 microm and 5 microm and different internal diameter. The influence of a water bath, a still air heater, and a forced air heater on performance was investigated. Heating effects were substantial, with a decrease in k of almost 15% for toluene over the flow rate range approximately 0.4-2.3 mL/min with a 15 cm x 0.46 cm ID column packed with 3 microm particles. Heating effects on retention increased with increasing solute k, with increase in the column ID, with decrease in the column particle size, and with decrease in the set column oven temperature. While the water bath minimised axial temperature gradients and thus its effect on k, radial temperature gradients were potentially serious with this system, especially at high mobile phase velocity, even with columns containing 5 microm particles. In contrast to the effects of axial temperature gradients in 4.6 mm columns, very little difference in Van Deemter plots was noted between the three different thermostats with 2 mm ID columns, even when 3 microm particles were used. However, the efficiency of 2 mm columns for peaks of low or moderate k (k<4) can be compromised by the extra dead volume introduced by the heating systems, even with conventional HPLC systems with otherwise minimised extra column volume.

Use of chiral zwitterionic surfactants for enantiomeric resolutions by capillary electrophoresis.

The enantiomeric resolution of 1,1'-binaphthyl-2,2'-diamine and Tröger's base was investigated using the commercially available zwitterionic surfactants 3-[(3-cholamidopropyl)dimethylammonio]-1-propanesulphonate (CHAPS) and 3-[(3-cholamidopropyl)dimethylammonio]-2-hydroxy-1-propanesulphonate (CHAPSO). Resolution of the weakly basic chiral probes was achieved using varying concentrations of surfactant, above their critical micellar concentrations, in a phosphate buffer (pH 2.5; 100 mM) to ensure ionisation of the analytes. Both CHAPS and CHAPSO were employed in the absence of additional coselectors or surfactants as sole micellar-forming agents. The addition of organic modifiers, methanol and acetonitrile (ACN), to the background electrolyte (BGE) was found to have a detrimental effect on enantioselectivity presumably by alteration of the phase polarity.

Enantiomeric resolution of 2-arylpropionic acid nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs by capillary electrophoresis: methods and applications.

The 2-arylpropionic acids (2-APAs) are an important group of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. These agents, the majority of which are available as racemates, exhibit stereoselectivity in both their action and disposition. Developments in stereoselective separation science methodology, mainly chromatographic, have facilitated an evaluation of the pharmacological properties of the individual enantiomers of these drugs and contributed to our understanding of both their mode(s) of action and disposition. While a number of electrophoretic techniques, including capillary electrophoresis, capillary electrochromatography and isotachophoresis, have been applied to the stereoselective resolution and stereospecific analysis of these agents using a variety of chiral selectors, e.g., cyclodextrins, oligosaccharides, macrocyclic antibiotics, and proteins, the number of published applications in pharmaceutical and biomedical analysis remains relatively limited. However, the utility of electrophoretic techniques for stereospecific analysis may be illustrated using the 2-APAs as typical examples of chiral acidic pharmaceuticals. Applications include: determination of enantiomeric composition following biosynthetic stereoselective hydrolysis; examination of both achiral and chiral impurity profiles in bulk drugs and formulated products; determination of enantiomeric impurities in both bulk drugs and formulated products; examination of configurational stability following stress testing of formulated products; determination of enantiomeric composition and metabolite profile in biological fluids following administration of the racemates and individual enantiomers. It may be anticipated that future exploitation of electrophoretic approaches to the stereospecific analysis of these agents will result in further contributions to our understanding of their stereoselective biological properties and therapeutic use.