The Enantioselective Potential of NicoShell and TeicoShell Columns for Basic Pharmaceuticals and Forensic Drugs in Sub/Supercritical Fluid Chromatography.

The enantioselective potential of two macrocyclic glycopeptide-based chiral stationary phases for analysis of 28 structurally diverse biologically active compounds such as derivatives of pyrovalerone, ketamine, cathinone, and other representatives of psychostimulants and antidepressants was evaluated in sub/supercritical fluid chromatography. The chiral selectors immobilized on 2.7 µm superficially porous particles were teicoplanin (TeicoShell column) and modified macrocyclic glycopeptide (NicoShell column). The influence of the organic modifier and different mobile phase additives on the retention and enantioresolution were investigated. The obtained results confirmed that the mobile phase additives, especially water as a single additive or in combination with basic and acidic additives, improve peak shape and enhance enantioresolution. In addition, the effect of temperature was evaluated to optimize the enantioseparation process. Both columns exhibited comparable enantioselectivity, approximately 90% of the compounds tested were enantioseparated, and 30% out of them were baseline enantioresolved under the tested conditions. The complementary enantioselectivity of the macrocyclic glycopeptide-based chiral stationary phases was emphasized. This work can be useful for the method development for the enantioseparation of basic biologically active compounds of interest.

Analysis of the Ibotenic Acid, Muscimol, and Ergosterol Content of an Amanita Muscaria Hydroalcoholic Extract with an Evaluation of Its Cytotoxic Effect against a Panel of Lung Cell Lines In Vitro.

The fungus Amanita muscaria is universally recognizable for its iconic appearance; it is also widely regarded as poisonous, inedible, and even deadly. In spite of that, there have been documented cases of use of A. muscaria-containing preparations against various diseases, including cancer, to no apparent ill effect. The search for compounds that can be used to treat cancer among various plants and fungi has been intensifying in recent years. In light of this, we describe an HPLC HILIC analytical method for the evaluation of the content of the anticancer compound ergosterol (ERG) and the neuroactive alkaloids ibotenic acid (IBO) and muscimol (MUS) that contribute significantly to the unpleasant physiological syndrome associated with A. muscaria consumption. A 'homemade' A. muscaria tincture made using 80-proof rye vodka as the solvent, an A. muscaria extract made with a standardized water-ethanol solution as the solvent, and fractions obtained from the second extract via liquid-liquid extraction with nonpolar solvents were analyzed. The study also presents the results of capillary zone electrophoresis with contactless conductivity detection and UHPLC-MS/MS analyses of the IBO and MUS content of the two native A. muscaria extracts and an evaluation of the standardized extract's cytotoxic effect against a small panel of lung cell cultures in vitro. Our results show that the standardized extract has a significant cytotoxic effect and does not contain the compounds of interest in any significant quantity.

How mobile phase composition and column temperature affect enantiomer elution order of liquid crystals on amylose tris(3-chloro-5-methylphenylcarbamate) as chiral selector.

A comprehensive study into the effects of mobile phase composition and column temperature on enantiomer elution order was conducted with a set of chiral rod-like liquid crystalline materials. The analytes were structurally similar and comprised variances such as length of terminal alkyl chain, presence of chlorine, number of phenyl rings, and type of chiral center. Experiments were carried out in polar organic and reversed-phase modes using amylose tris(3-chloro-5-methylphenylcarbamate) immobilized on silica gel as the chiral stationary phase. For all liquid crystals, reversal of elution order of enantiomers was observed based on type of used cosolvent and/or its content in the mobile phase; for some of the liquid crystals a temperature-induced reversal was also observed. Both linear and nonlinear dependencies of natural logarithm of enantioselectivity on temperature were found. Tested mobile phases comprised pure organic solvents and binary and tertiary mixtures of acetonitrile with organic solvents and/or water. Effect of acidic/basic mobile phase additives was also tested. Effect of structure of chiral selector is briefly discussed.

Rhodium-Catalyzed Enantioselective Synthesis of Highly Fluorescent and CPL-Active Dispiroindeno[2,1-c]fluorenes.

The enantioselective synthesis of chiral [7]-helical dispirodihydro[2,1-c]indenofluorenes (DSF-IFs) was achieved for the first time in good yields with high er values (er up to 99 : 1). The crucial step of the whole reaction sequence was the enantioselective intramolecular [2+2+2] cycloaddition of tethered triynediols to indenofluorenediols, which was catalyzed by a Rh/SEGPHOS® complex. Further transformations led to the corresponding DSF-IFs. The prepared helically chiral DSF-IFs combine circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) activity (glum =∼10-3 ) with exceptionally high fluorescence quantum yields (up to Φlum =0.97).

The effect of tandem coupling of NicoShell and TeicoShell columns in sub/supercritical fluid chromatography on enantioresolution.

The coupling of columns in sub/supercritical fluid chromatography presents a great opportunity for influencing the separation efficiency and extending the selectivity of the separation system. Combinations of different types of chiral stationary phases could positively affect the enantioresolution if single ones are complementary to each other. In this work, two superficially porous particle (2.7 µm) macrocyclic glycopeptide-based columns, namely TeicoShell and NicoShell, were serially coupled and tested in sub/supercritical fluid chromatography for the first time. The influence of the column arrangement on the enantioseparation of structurally diverse biologically active compounds was examined. The obtained results showed how the column order crucially affected the enantioresolution of compounds tested, but the retention was negligibly affected in most cases. We also demonstrated that single TeicoShell and NicoShell columns are very promising towards the development of highly efficient and fast/ultrafast sub/supercritical fluid chromatography methods for structurally different chiral compounds. The optimized methods for sub-minute enantioselective separation of certain biologically important compounds were proposed.

Rapid and reliable HILIC-MS/MS method for monitoring allantoin as a biomarker of oxidative stress.

Allantoin is an excellent biomarker of oxidative stress in humans as the main product of uric acid oxidation by reactive oxygen species. Yet, allantoin determination is still not routinely performed in clinical laboratories. Therefore, we developed a fast, simple, selective, and sensitive UHPLC-MS/MS method for allantoin determination in human serum using an isotopically labeled internal standard. Our analytical protocol provided high sensitivity by mass spectrometry detection and high throughput by HILIC-MS/MS analysis within 4 min, with one-step serum sample preparation approximately within 7 min. Lastly, our protocol was fully validated to demonstrate its reliability in allantoin determination in human serum. The method showed an excellent linear range from 0.05 to 100 µM, with precision ranging from 1.8 to 11.3% (RSD), and with accuracy (relative error %) within ±6.0%. The method was then applied to analyze the concentration of allantoin in serum samples from 71 patients with chronic gout without treatment with xanthine oxidase inhibitors. The median serum allantoin concentration in the cohort was 2.8 µM (n = 71). Overall, our simple analytical protocol has the potential to be easily implemented in clinical routine practice for monitoring allantoin as a key oxidative stress biomarker.

The degree of substitution affects the enantioselectivity of sulfobutylether-ß-cyclodextrin chiral stationary phases.

Three chiral stationary phases were prepared by dynamic coating of sulfobutylether-ß-cyclodextrin (SBE-ß-CD) with different degrees of substitution, onto strong anion-exchange stationary phases. The enantioselective potential and stability of newly prepared chiral stationary phases were examined using a set of structurally different chiral analytes. Measurements were performed in RP-HPLC. Mobile phases consisted of methanol/formic acid, pH 2.10, and methanol/10 mM ammonium acetate buffer, pH 4.00, in various volume ratios. SBE-ß-CDs with degrees of substitution (DS) 4, 6.3, and 10 proved suitable for the enantioseparation of 14, 11, and 8 analytes, respectively. The SBE-ß-CD DS 4 based chiral stationary phase enabled the enantioseparation of the nearly all basic and neutral compounds. Chiral stationary phases with higher sulfobutylether-ß-cyclodextrin substitution (especially DS 10) yielded higher enantioresolution values for acidic compounds.

Serum uric acid increases in patients with systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases after 3 months of treatment with TNF inhibitors.

In patients with gout, the serum uric acid (SUA) is usually lower during acute gouty attacks than during intercritical periods. It has been suggested that systemic inflammatory response can cause this phenomenon. The objective is to determine whether therapy with TNF inhibitors (TNFis) affects SUA levels in patients with systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases (SARDs) and whether SUA changes correlate with pro-inflammatory cytokines or with the oxidative stress marker allantoin. In this study, SUA, CRP, creatinine, MCP-1, IFN-α2, IFN-γ, Il-1ß, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, IL-12, IL-17a, IL-18, IL-23, IL-33, TNF-α, and allantoin levels were measured prior to and after 3 months of TNFis treatment in patients with SARDs. The values obtained in the biochemical assays were then tested for associations with the patients' demographic and disease-related data. A total of 128 patients (rheumatoid arthritis, n = 44; ankylosing spondylitis, n = 45; psoriatic arthritis, n = 23; and adults with juvenile idiopathic arthritis, n = 16) participated in this study. Among the entire patient population, SUA levels significantly increased 3 months after starting treatment with TNFis (279.5 [84.0] vs. 299.0 [102.0] µmol/l, p < 0.0001), while the levels of CRP, IL-6, IL-8, and MCP-1 significantly decreased. Male sex was the most powerful baseline predictor of ΔSUA in univariate and multivariate models. None of the measured laboratory-based parameters had statistically significant effects on the magnitude of ΔSUA. 3 months of anti-TNF therapy increased the levels of SUA in patients with SARDs, but neither the measured pro-inflammatory cytokines nor the oxidation to allantoin appeared responsible for this effect.

Chromatographic behavior of new deazapurine ribonucleosides in hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography.

The chromatographic behavior of new biogenic purine nucleosides in hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography was examined on three different stationary phases, namely bare silica, and amide- and cyclofructan-based stationary phases. The effects of buffer concentration, pH and acetonitrile-to-aqueous-part ratio in the mobile phase on retention and peak shape were assessed. The retention coefficients and peak symmetry values substantially differed with respect to analytes´ structures, stationary phase properties and mobile phase composition. The bare silica column was unsuitable for these compounds under the chromatographic conditions tested due to very broad and asymmetrical peaks. Furthermore, the cyclofructan-based stationary phase provided almost Gaussian peak shapes of all deazapurine nucleosides under most conditions tested. Therefore, the cyclofructan-based stationary phase is the most suitable choice for the chromatographic analysis of nucleosides.

Cellulose tris-(3,5-dimethylphenylcarbamate)-based chiral stationary phase for the enantioseparation of drugs in supercritical fluid chromatography: comparison with HPLC.

A cellulose tris-(3,5-dimethylphenylcarbamate)-based chiral stationary phase was studied as a tool for the enantioselective separation of 21 selected analytes with different pharmaceutical and physicochemical properties. The enantioseparations were performed using supercritical fluid chromatography. The effect of the mobile phase composition was studied. Four different additives (diethylamine, triethylamine, isopropylamine, and trifluoroacetic acid) and isopropylamine combined with trifluoroacetic acid were tested and their influence on enantioseparation was compared. The influence of two different mobile phase co-solvents (methanol and propan-2-ol) combined with all the additives was also evaluated. The best mobile phase compositions for the separation of the majority of enantiomers were CO2 /methanol/isopropylamine 80:20:0.1 v/v/v or CO2 /propan-2-ol/isopropylamine/trifluoroacetic acid 80:20:0.05:0.05 v/v/v/v. The best results were obtained from the group of basic ß-blockers. A high-performance liquid chromatography separation system composed of the same stationary phase and mobile phase of similar properties prepared as a mixture of hexane/propan-2-ol/additive 80:20:0.1 v/v/v was considered for comparison. Supercritical fluid chromatography was found to yield better results, i.e. better enantioresolution for shorter analysis times than high-performance liquid chromatography. However, examples of enantiomers better resolved under the optimized conditions in high-performance liquid chromatography were also found.

Immobilized strychnine as a new chiral stationary phase for HPLC.

A new ion-exchanger type chiral stationary phase for high-performance liquid chromatography was prepared. The synthetic protocol is based on derivatization of silica with (3-iodopropyl)trimethoxysilane in the first step followed by immobilization of strychnine via quaternization of nitrogen atom of the alkaloid strychnine. The synthesized chiral stationary phase was chromatographically characterized. The main effort was headed towards the evaluation of the enantioselectivity of the novel sorbent. For that purpose a set of suitable chiral probes, specifically, binaphthyl derivatives, was employed. The influence of methanol content, concentration of aqueous ammonium acetate buffer, and its pH on retention factors, separation selectivity, and resolution of the atropoisomers of the mentioned chiral solutes was studied in detail. It was demonstrated that the new chiral stationary phase was capable to separate atropoisomers of four out of seven testing compounds. Despite the strong influence of the above mentioned variables on retention, their impact on selectivity and resolution was rather moderate. Concerning retention mechanism, it seems that electrostatic interaction between the positively charged quaternary nitrogen of the chiral stationary phase and anionic solute participates significantly in the retention process.

Enantioselective potential of polysaccharide-based chiral stationary phases in supercritical fluid chromatography.

The enantioselective potential of two polysaccharide-based chiral stationary phases for analysis of chiral structurally diverse biologically active compounds was evaluated in supercritical fluid chromatography using a set of 52 analytes. The chiral selectors immobilized on 2.5 µm silica particles were tris-(3,5-dimethylphenylcarmabate) derivatives of cellulose or amylose. The influence of the polysaccharide backbone, different organic modifiers, and different mobile phase additives on retention and enantioseparation was monitored. Conditions for fast baseline enantioseparation were found for the majority of the compounds. The success rate of baseline and partial enantioseparation with cellulose-based chiral stationary phase was 51.9% and 15.4%, respectively. Using amylose-based chiral stationary phase we obtained 76.9% of baseline enantioseparations and 9.6% of partial enantioseparations of the tested compounds. The best results on cellulose-based chiral stationary phase were achieved particularly with propane-2-ol and a mixture of isopropylamine and trifluoroacetic acid as organic modifier and additive to CO2 , respectively. Methanol and basic additive isopropylamine were preferred on amylose-based chiral stationary phase. The complementary enantioselectivity of the cellulose- and amylose-based chiral stationary phases allows separation of the majority of the tested structurally different compounds. Separation systems were found to be directly applicable for analyses of biologically active compounds of interest.

Characterization of polyaniline-coated stationary phases by using the linear solvation energy relationship in the hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography mode using capillary liquid chromatography.

A polyaniline coating was used to modify the surface of bare silica gel and octadecyl silica stationary phases to characterize the properties of altered materials. It was assumed that the mixed-mode retention was established on the basis of the polyaniline chemical structure and its combination with the original sorbents. Polyaniline was deposited onto the original surfaces during the chemical polymerization of aniline hydrochloride. The prepared materials were slurry packed into capillary columns and systematic chromatographic characterization was performed using the linear solvation energy relationship, also employing descriptors that allow inclusion of ionic interactions in the proposed retention mechanism. The retention times of 80 solutes with various chemical structures were measured in the hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography mode. The obtained results demonstrated the significant contribution of the polyaniline coating to the retention mechanism under the given conditions; the assumed mixed-mode retention was confirmed. The dominant retention interaction for both modified stationary phases was based on the protonation of nitrogen atoms in the polyaniline structure, leading to suitable retention and selectivity for the hydrophilic analytes, especially anionic and zwitterionic species. Thus, especially, the polyaniline-coated bare silica gel sorbent seems to be promising for potential applications related to the separation of polar compounds.

Stealth Amphiphiles: Self-Assembly of Polyhedral Boron Clusters.

This is the first experimental evidence that both self-assembly and surface activity are common features of all water-soluble boron cluster compounds. The solution behavior of anionic polyhedral boranes (sodium decaborate, sodium dodecaborate, and sodium mercaptododecaborate), carboranes (potassium 1-carba-dodecaborate), and metallacarboranes {sodium [cobalt bis(1,2-dicarbollide)]} was extensively studied, and it is evident that all the anionic boron clusters form multimolecular aggregates in water. However, the mechanism of aggregation is dependent on size and polarity. The series of studied clusters spans from a small hydrophilic decaborate-resembling hydrotrope to a bulky hydrophobic cobalt bis(dicarbollide) behaving like a classical surfactant. Despite their pristine structure resembling Platonic solids, the nature of anionic boron cluster compounds is inherently amphiphilic-they are stealth amphiphiles.

Insight into Trypsin Miscleavage: Comparison of Kinetic Constants of Problematic Peptide Sequences.

Trypsin, a high fidelity protease, is the most widely used enzyme for protein digestion in proteomic research. Optimal digestion conditions are well-known and so are the expected cleavage products. However, missed cleavage sites are frequently observed when acidic amino acids, aspartic and glutamic acids, are present near the cleavage site. Also, the sequence motifs with successive lysine and/or arginine residues represent a source of missed cleaved sites. In spite of an adverse role of missed cleaved peptides on proteomic research, the digestion kinetics of these problematic sequences is not well-known. In this work, synthetic peptides with various sequence motifs were used as trypsin substrates. Cleavage products were analyzed with reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography, and the kinetic constants for selected missed cleavage sites were calculated. Relative digestion speed for lysine and arginine sites is compared, including the digestion motifs flanked with aspartic and glutamic acid. Our findings show that DK and DTR motifs are cleaved by trypsin with 3 orders of magnitude lower speed than the arginine site. These motifs are likely to produce missed cleavage peptides in protein tryptic digests even at prolonged digestion times.

Evaluation of differences between Chiralpak IA and Chiralpak AD-RH amylose-based chiral stationary phases in reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography.

Polysaccharide-based chiral stationary phases can be used for the enantioselective separation of a wide range of structurally different compounds. These phases are available with chiral selectors coated or immobilized on silica gel support. The means of attachment of the chiral selector to the carrier can influence the separation performance of these stationary phases. This paper deals with evaluation of differences in the separation abilities of coated Chiralpak AD-RH versus immobilized Chiralpak IA amylose-based stationary phases in the reversed-phase mode of high-performance liquid chromatography. A set of chiral analytes was separated under acidic and basic conditions. Differences were observed in the enantioseparation potential of the tested phases. The linear-free energy relationship and additional evaluation of ionic interactions were used to ascertain whether the interactions that participate in retention and enantioseparation are affected by the means of preparation of these phases. All the interactions covered by the linear-free energy relationship were significant for the studied phases and their absolute values were almost always higher for the coated phase. Ionic interactions were found to be more important on the immobilized stationary phase but did not contribute to any improvement in the enantioselective separation performance.

Impact of ion-pairing systems choice on diastereomeric selectivity of phosphorothioated oligonucleotides in reversed-phase liquid chromatography.

Ion-pairing reversed-phase liquid chromatography was utilized for the analysis of native and phosphorothioated oligonucleotides differing in the length (2-6mers and 21mer) and the number and position of phosphorothioate modifications. We investigated the influence of counterion (acetate vs. hexafluoroisopropanol) on the adsorption of eleven alkylamines on the stationary phases. A stronger adsorption of charged alkylamines on octadecyl- and phenyl-based stationary phases led to greater retention of oligonucleotides, and the adsorption of alkylamines was promoted with greater concentration of hexafluoroisopropanol in the mobile phase. Selected amines (triethylamine, dipropylamine, hexylamine) were used to study the resolution of n and n-x mers (main peak and its impurities shortened at 5´end), and diastereomeric separation of phosphorothioated oligonucleotides. The results confirmed a crucial role of alkylamine and counterion choice on the diastereomeric separation. The increasing hydrophobicity of alkylamine led to diminished diastereomeric selectivity which produced narrower phosphorothioated oligonucleotides peaks and led to improved n/n-x separation. Using hexafluoroisopropanol instead of acetate as counterion further enhances this effect (except for 100 mM concentration of hexafluoroisopropanol in combination with highly hydrophobic hexylamine). The elevated column temperature led to suppression of the diastereomeric resolution and improved resolution of n and n-x mers oligonucleotides. Baseline separation of oligonucleotides with different number of phosphorothioate linkages was achieved; this may be useful for therapeutic oligonucleotide analysis.

Hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry for the separation and identification of antisense oligonucleotides impurities and nusinersen metabolites.

With the development of therapeutic oligonucleotides for antisense and gene therapies, the demand for analytical methods also increases. For the analysis of complex samples, for example plasma samples, where the use of mass detection is essential, hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography is a suitable choice. The aim of the present work was to develop a method for separation and identification of the oligonucleotide impurities and metabolites by hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography. First of all, the effects of different chromatographic conditions (e.g. pH of the aqueous part of the mobile phase, buffer concentration, column temperature) on the retention and separation of phosphorothioate oligonucleotides standards on the amide stationary phase were investigated. A set of model oligonucleotides containing a fully modified 21mer and its typical impurities (shortmers and oligonucleotides with different number of thiophosphate modifications) was used. The results showed that the concentration of the salt in the mobile phase as well as its pH, are the most influential parameters with regard to peak shape and separation. The knowledge gained was applied to the analysis of an unpurified 18mer oligonucleotides, analogues of the drug nusinersen used for the treatment of spinal muscular atrophy. The successful separation and identification of twenty-six and twenty-eight impurities was performed with the developed HILIC method. The method was applied to analysis of nusinersen metabolites of serum samples of patients treated with Spinraza.

Properties of two amide-based hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography columns.

Hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography is a separation technique suitable for the separation of moderately and highly polar compounds. Various stationary phases (SPs) for hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography are commercially available. While the SPs based on the same type of ligand are available from different providers, they can display a distinct retention characteristics and separation selectivity. The current work is focused on characterization and comparison of the separation systems of two amide-based HPLC columns from two producers, i.e. XBridge Amide column and TSK gel Amide-80 column. Several characterization procedures (tests) were used to investigate the differences between these columns. The chromatographic behavior of selected analytes indicates that multimodal interactions are responsible for retention and separation on these columns. Multiple testing approaches were used in order to reveal subtle differences between the SPs. Both amide-based columns showed certain differences in retention, selectivity, and plate counts. Based on the tests used in this study, we conclude that the investigated columns provide a different degree of H-bonding interactions.

An insight into the use of dimethylphenyl carbamate cyclofructan 7 chiral stationary phase in supercritical fluid chromatography: the basic comparison with HPLC.

Cyclofructan-based chiral stationary phases were previously shown as a promising possibility for separation of chiral compounds in high performance liquid chromatography. In this work retention and enantiodiscrimination properties of the 3,5-dimethylphenyl carbamate cyclofructan 7 chiral stationary phase are described in supercritical fluid chromatography. The results obtained in both of the separation methods were compared. A set of compounds with axial or central chirality was used as analytes. The effect of mobile phase composition, that is, addition of different alcohol modifiers and/or trifluoroacetic acid to carbon dioxide, was examined in the supercritical system. Similarly, mobile phases composed of hexane modified with propan-2-ol and/or trifluoracetic acid were used in liquid chromatography. A linear free energy relationship model was utilized for characterization of interactions that are decisive for retention and separation in both techniques. Dispersion interactions showed similar negative values using both methods. The main contribution of hydrogen bond acidity was also comparable for both methods. The propensity to interact with n- and/or π-electron pairs of solutes was significant only in the supercritical system.