Preparation of silica microspheres with a broad pore size distribution and their use as the support for a coated cellulose derivative chiral stationary phase.

A templating strategy using crosslinked and functionalized polymeric beads to synthesize silica microspheres with a broad pore size distribution has been developed. The polymer/silica hybrid microspheres were prepared by utilizing the combination of a templating weak cation exchange resin, a structure-directing agent N-trimethoxysilylpropyl-N,N,N-trimethylammonium chloride, and a silica precursor tetraethyl orthosilicate. The silica microspheres were then obtained after calcinating the hybrid microspheres. The as-prepared materials were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, mercury intrusion porosimeter, and thermal gravimetric analysis. The results showed that the starting templating beads were about 5 µm in diameter and the formed silica microspheres were less than 3 µm with a pore size range of 10-150 nm, some pores were even extended to beyond 250 nm. It was demonstrated that cellulose tris(3,5-dimethylphenylcarbamate) was readily coated onto the surface of the as-synthesized silica microspheres without any additional surface pretreatment. The coated silica microspheres were uniformly dispersed even with high loading of the chiral stationary phase, which exhibited high resolution chiral separations in high-performance liquid chromatography.

Covalent attachment of polymeric monolith to polyether ether ketone (PEEK) tubing.

A new method of reproducible preparation of vinylic polymeric monolithic columns with a key step of covalently anchoring the monolith to PEEK surface is described. In order to chemically attach the polymer monolith to the tube wall, methacrylate functional groups were introduced onto PEEK surface by a three-step procedure, including surface etching, surface reduction and surface methacryloylation. The chemical state of the modified tubing surface was characterized by attenuated total reflectance infrared (ATR-IR) spectroscopy. It was found that the etching step is the key to successfully modifying the PEEK tubing surface. Poly(styrene-co-divinylbenzene) monoliths were in situ synthesized by thermally initiated free radical copolymerization within the confines of surface-vinylized PEEK tubings of dimensions close to ones conventionally used in HPLC and UHPLC (1.6 mm internal diameter, 10.0-12.5 cm length). Adhesion test was done by measuring the operating pressure drop, which the prepared stationary phases can withstand. Good pressure resistance, up to 140 bar/10 cm (flow rate 0.5 mL min(-1), acetonitrile as a mobile phase), indicates strong bonding of monolith to the tubing wall. The monolithic material was proven to have a permeability of 1.7 × 10 (-14) m(2), applying acetonitrile-water 70:30 (v/v) as a mobile phase. The column performance was reproducible from column to column and was evaluated via the isocratic separation of a series of alkylbenzenes in the reversed-phase mode (acetonitrile-water 70:30, v/v). The numbers of plates per meter at optimal flow rate were found to be between 26 000 and 32 000 for the different analytes.

Enantioselectivity of monolithic silica stationary phases immobilized with different concentrations cellulose tris (3,5-dimethylphenylcarbamate), analyzed with different mobile phases in capillary electrochromatography.

The 3,5-dimethylphenylcarbamate derivatives of cellulose bearing 3-(triethoxysilyl)propyl residues were immobilized in a capillary format onto a monolithic silica support by intermolecular polycondensation of the triethoxysilyl groups. The resulting columns were used for chiral separations using capillary electrochromatography. The effects of the synthesizing solvent, the selector coating procedure, the chiral selector concentration onto the silica monolith and the mobile phase pH value, on the separation of enantiomers were studied. The column-to-column reproducibility and stability also were evaluated. A test set of 14 chiral substances, including acidic, neutral, bifunctional and basic compounds, was used to investigate the effects of the factors mentioned above. Twelve pairs of enantiomers showed enantioselectivity at some of the different conditions tested. The column-to-column repeatability was satisfactory, and the prepared columns were stable under the adopted analysis conditions.

A novel lipase-based stationary phase in liquid chromatography.

In this paper, a new chiral stationary phase (CSP) based on Candida antarctica lipase B (CALB) bounding to the surface of macroporous silica gel was developed and its stereoselectivity in enantioseparation and asymmetrical hydrolysis was evaluated. Three CALB-based HPLC columns with different amounts of enzyme immobilized were prepared by employing the immobilization method, namely "in batch". In this technique two chromatographic supports epoxy silica and aminopropyl silica were considered. This novel CSP was proven capable of hydrolyzing chiral esters asymmetrically as bioreactor and separating several aromatic alcohols and diniconazole enantiomers.

Chiral HPLC separation and absolute configuration assignment of a series of new triazole compounds.

A series of novel chiral triazole compounds were synthesized. They were separated into enantiomers by liquid chromatography on an amylose tris(3,5-dimethylphenylcarbamate) (ADMPC) chiral stationary phase (CSP). The absolute configuration of each enantiomer of the investigated compounds was established by combined use of chemical correlation, chiral HPLC and circular dichroism (CD) spectra analysis methods. The influence of the mobile-phase modifiers and the structure of chiral triazole compounds on the chiral separation and retention were investigated. Reversal of the elution order of some enantiomeric pairs upon using different mobile-phase modifier was observed. The temperature effect on the chiral separation and the thermodynamic properties including enthalpy and entropy change of binding to the ADMPC-CSP were also investigated.

Influence of soil properties on the enantioselective dissipation of the herbicide lactofen in soils.

A scheme was developed to elucidate the dissipation behaviors of the two enantiomers of the herbicide lactofen in soils using a normal-phase high-performance liquid chromatograph (HPLC) with UV detector and a column with a cellulose-tri-(3,5-dimethylphenylcarbamate)-based chiral stationary phase (CDMPC-CSP). Eight soils with a wide range of soil properties were studied. Racemic and the enantiopure (S)-(+)- and (R)-(-)-lactofen were incubated under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. The data from sterilized controls indicated that the dissipation of lactofen was biological. The dissipation was shown to be enantioselective with (S)-(+)-enantiomer being degraded faster than the (R)-(-)-enantiomer, resulting in residues enriched with (R)-(-)-lactofen when the racemic compound was incubated. Lactofen was configurationally stable in soil, showing no interconversion of (S)-(+)- to (R)-(-)- enantiomer and vice versa. Significant correlations of the enantioselectivity, expressed as ES = (k((S)) - k((R)))/(k((S)) + k((R))) of lactofen with soil pH were observed under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. In addition, we found that the enantioselectivity correlated with the soil texture rather than the organic carbon.

Applicability of cloud point extraction coupled with microwave-assisted back-extraction to the determination of organophosphorous pesticides in human urine by gas chromatography with flame photometry detection.

A procedure for the determination of organophosphorous pesticides (OPPs) - phorate, diazinon, parathion-methyl, fenthion and quinalphos - in human urine was developed using the cloud point extraction of nonionic surfactant (Triton X-114) coupled with microwave-assisted back-extraction prior to gas chromatography with flame photometry detection (GC-FPD) analysis. The upper organic solution obtained from back-extraction was centrifugated simply for further cleanup for the sake of automatic injection. A preconcentration factor of 50 was obtained for these five OPPs extracted from only 10 mL of a sample. The limits of detection (LODs) were 0.07 ng mL(-1) for phorate, fenthion and quinalphos, 0.04 ng mL(-1) for diazinon and 0.08 ng mL(-1) for parathion-methyl. The limits of quantification (LOQs) were 0.21, 0.12, 0.24, 0.21 and 0.21 ng mL(-1), respectively. Accuracy of the method was evaluated by bias, which ranged from +6.85 to -14.68%. Precision was also good; the relative standard deviations (R.S.D.s) were less than 9%. The method showed to be potential for biological monitoring.

Stereoselective degradation of benalaxyl in tomato, tobacco, sugar beet, capsicum, and soil.

The stereoselective degradation of the racemic benalaxyl in vegetables such as tomato, tobacco, sugar beet, capsicum, and the soil has been investigated. The two enantiomers of benalaxyl in the matrix were extracted by organic solvent and determined by validated chiral high-performance liquid chromatography with a cellulose-tris-(3, 5-dimethylphenylcarbamate)-based chiral column. Rac-benalaxyl was fortified into the soil and foliar applied to vegetables. The assay method was linear over a range of concentrations (0.5-50 microg ml(-1)) and the mean recoveries in all the samples were more than 70% for the two enantiomers. The limit of detection for both enantiomers was 0.05 microg g(-1). The results in soil showed that R-(-)-enantiomer dissipated faster than S-(+)-enantiomer and the stereoselectivity might be caused by microorganisms. In tomato, tobacco, sugar, beet, and capsicum plants, there was significantly stereoselective metabolism. The preferential absorption and degradation of S-(+)-enantiomer resulted an enrichment of the R-(-)-enantiomer residue in all the vegetables.

Stereoselective toxicokinetics and tissue distribution of ethofumesate in rabbits.

The stereoselective toxicokinetics of ethofumesate enantiomers following a single intravenous (i.v.) administration at doses of 30 mg/kg were investigated in rabbits. Plasma concentrations of (+)- and (-)-ethofumesate were analyzed by a validated chiral HPLC method that involved extraction of plasma with organic solvent followed by separation on a cellulose-Tris-(3,5-dimethylphenylcarbamate)-based chiral column and quantification by UV absorbance at 230 nm. Plasma concentration-time curves after i.v. administration were best described by an open two-compartment model. The concentration of the (-)-enantiomer decreased more rapidly than that of the (+)-enantiomer. Significant differences in toxicokinetic parameters between the two enantiomers indicated that stereoselective behavior occurred with the (-)-enantiomer being preferentially metabolized and eliminated.

Enantiomeric separation of chiral pesticides by high performance liquid chromatography on cellulose tris-3,5-dimethyl carbamate stationary phase under reversed phase conditions.

Twenty chiral pesticides were tested, of which seven samples were directly separated by HPLC using cellulose tris-3,5-dimethyl carbamate (CDMPC) chiral stationary phase under RP conditions. The influence of mobile phase composition and column temperatures from 0 degrees C to 40 degrees C on the separations were investigated. The mobile phases were methanol/water or ACN/water at a flow rate of 0.8 mL/min with UV detection at 230 or 210 nm. Epoxiconazole, terallethrin, benalaxyl, and diclofopmethyl were observed to obtain the baseline separation under suitable conditions and other pesticides pyriproxyfen, lactofen, and quizalofop-ethyl were separated partially. The retention factors (k) and selectivity factor (alpha) for the enantiomers of most investigated pesticides decreased upon increasing the temperature except for the selectivity factors (alpha) of pyriproxyfen in methanol/water. The ln alpha - 1/T plots for racemic chiral pesticides were linear at the range of 0-40 except for that of pyriproxyfen enantiomers in methanol/water and the chiral separations were controlled by enthalpy. Better separations were not always at low temperature. The elution orders of the eluting enantiomers were determined by a circular dichroism (CD) detector.

Enantiomeric resolution of new triazole compounds by high-performance liquid chromatography.

Cellulose tris(3,5-dimethylphenylcarbamate) (CDMPC) was synthesized and coated on aminopropylsilica to prepare a chiral stationary phase (CSP). HPLC methods were developed for the direct enantioseparation of 12 chiral triazole compounds on the CSP. The separations were made using normal phase methodology with a mobile phase consisting of n-hexane-alcohol (ethanol, 1-propanol, 1-butanol, 2-propanol, and t-butanol) in various portions. The column temperatures were studied for the optimization of the resolutions. The effects of structural features of the solutes on the discrimination between the enantiomers were examined. Baseline separation was easily obtained in many cases.

Stereoselective degradation of fungicide benalaxyl in soils and cucumber plants.

The enantioselective degradation of benalaxyl has been investigated to elucidate its behavior in several agricultural soils and plants (cucumber). Racemic benalaxyl was fortified into five types of agricultural soils and sprayed leaves of cucumber plants, respectively. The degradation kinetics and the enantiomer fraction (EF) were determined by normal-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with diode array detection (DAD) on the chiral column filled cellulose-tri-(3,5-dimethylphenylcarbamate)-based chiral stationary phase (CDMPC-CSP). The process of the degradation of benalaxyl enantiomers followed pseudo-first-order kinetics in cucumber plant. However, the dissipation phases of benalaxyl enantiomers in soils were biphasic ("slow-fast-slow" process). It has been shown that the degradation of benalaxyl was stereoselective. The results indicated that the (+)-S-benalaxyl showed a faster degradation in plants, while the (-)-R-benalaxyl showed a faster degradation in Soils 3, 4, and 5. No stereoselective degradation was observed in other soils.

Stereoselective degradation kinetics of tebuconazole in rabbits.

Tebuconazole[(RS)-1-p-chlorophenyl-4,4-dimethyl-3-(1H-1,2,4-triazol-1-ylmethyl)pentan-3-ol] is a potent triazole fungicide and consists of a pair of enantiomers. The enantioselective degradation kinetics of tebuconazole was investigated in rabbits by intravenous (iv) injection. The concentrations of (-)-(R)-tebuconazole and (+)-(S)-tebuconazole in plasma and tissues were determined by HPLC with a cellulose tris(3,5-dimethylphenylcarbamate)-based chiral stationary phase. Enantioselective analysis methods for this fungicide in plasma and tissues were developed and validated. Good linearities were obtained over the concentration range of 0.25-25 mg/l for both enantiomers. The degradation followed pseudo-first-order kinetics and the degradation of the (+)-(S)-tebuconazole was much faster than that of the (-)-(R)-tebuconazole in plasma after administration of racemic tebuconazole. This study also indicated that environmental assessment of enantiomeric degradation may be needed to fully evaluate risks of tebuconazole use.