Systematic Approach to Links between Separations in MEKC and Reversed-Phase HPLC.

Retention factors and partition coefficients in micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC) and reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) are compared for a series of alkylbenzenes and substituted phenols. In both techniques, separations are based on partitioning between an aqueous phase and an alkyl phase. In MEKC, this was an SDS (C12) micellar pseudostationary phase, and in RP-HPLC an ODS 2 (C18) stationary phase. A nonporous silica (Micra 1.5-µm NPS), which has a low carbon loading, was used rather than a standard porous silica to avoid excessive retention in HPLC and to allow identical mobile phase conditions to be used in both separation modes. The average ratio of analyte retention factors, k(MEKC):k(HPLC), was found to be equal to the ratio ß(MEKC):ß(HPLC), where ß is the phase ratio. This implies that partition coefficients, P, are similar in both MEKC and HPLC, since P = k/ß, and that the dominant contribution to stability within each alkyl phase arises from hydrophobic interactions which are common to both separation media. Since partition coefficients are similar in MEKC and HPLC under aqueous buffer conditions, information on retention in one technique may be transferred to the other, provided that the phase ratios are known. In MEKC and HPLC, linear correlations of log octanol-water partition coefficients, K(ow), vs log k for the test compounds were transformed, knowing the phase ratio, to give log P values as a function of log K(ow). This allows quantitative links between MEKC and HPLC to be extended to include octanol-water partitioning. The addition of acetonitrile as an organic modifier over the concentration range 0-20% (v/v) was found to have a greater effect on k in HPLC than in MEKC. This could be a result of a decrease in the MEKC phase ratio due to an increase in the critical micelle concentration.

Differential binding of tioconazole enantiomers to hydroxypropyl-beta-cyclodextrin studied by capillary electrophoresis.

Capillary electrophoresis has been used to determine binding constants of tioconazole enantiomers with hydroxypropyl-beta-cyclodextrin (HP-beta-CD), after correcting for changes in mobility with increasing viscosity. The predicted and observed values of enantiomeric mobility difference were found to be maximum at a concentration of HP-beta-CD equal to the reciprocal of the average binding constant.

Glucose absorption from starch hydrolysates in the human jejunum.

The intestinal absorption and mucosal hydrolysis of a partial and a complete alpha-amylase hydrolysate of corn starch, simulating the normal intermediary and end products of luminal starch digestion, was studied using an in vivo steady state jejunal perfusion technique in normal human subjects. Alpha-amylase was excluded from the test segment by proximal balloon occlusion. Products of hydrolysis during intestinal perfusion were identified using gel permeation chromatography. Three isocaloric, isotonic sugar saline solutions containing 140 mM glucose, 70 mM maltose and the partial amylase hydrolysate of starch (51.5 +/- 1.4% of glucose content comprising glucose polymers of more than 10 glucose units) were perfused in the first study. Net glucose absorption during perfusion of the partial hydrolysate and free glucose was similar, but significantly faster from maltose (p less than 0.05). Hydrolysis of the polymer fraction containing more than 10 glucose units was significantly slower (29.5 +/- 2.0% of infused load) than the lower molecular weight fraction (56.4 +/- 3.8%, p less than 0.001). As net glucose absorption from the partial hydrolysate was similar to that from glucose, despite the slow hydrolysis of the higher molecular weight fraction, it seemed likely that oligosaccharides in the more rapidly hydrolysed lower molecular weight fractions were exerting a kinetic advantage on glucose absorption. This was confirmed in a second study, where glucose absorption from a complete amylase hydrolysate consisting predominantly of maltose, maltotriose and alpha-limit dextrins, occurred significantly faster (81.8 +/- 4.8 mmol/h/25 cm) than from isocaloric free glucose (55.8 +/- 4.9 mmol/h/25 cm, p less than 0.001). Chromatograms of intestinal aspirates suggested that (1->4), but not 1->6) linked oligosaccharides liberated during luminal and brush-border hydrolysis of dietary starch conferred a kinetic advantage on glucose absorption.