Micellar liquid chromatography in clinical chemistry: application to the monitorization of B6 vitamins.

BACKGROUND: A micellar reversed-phase liquid chromatographic procedure was developed for the determination of B6 group vitamins, i.e. pyridoxine, pyridoxal and pyridoxamine, in human serum. METHODS: Chromatographic conditions used were a C18 column, isocratic mode, flow-rate of 1 ml/min and UV-detection at 290 nm. Optimization of the composition of the mobile phase was performed using an interpretative strategy. RESULTS: After modeling, the composition of the selected mobile phase was 150 mM sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS)--2% (v/v) pentanol-dihydrogenphosphate buffer 10 mM at pH 3. In this mobile phase, serum samples were injected without pretreatment and analysis time was below 14 min. Calibrations for the three vitamins were linear, with coefficient regression better than 0.999, and intra- and inter-day precision, achieved according to ICH, offering values below 4.3% and 3.2%, respectively. The method was applied to the determination of the B6 vitamins in spiked serum samples, with recoveries around 100%, and in the pharmacokinetic determination of pyridoxine half-life in serum, which was found to be 47.5 +/- 3.2 min (n = 5). The procedure was also applied for the analysis of pyridoxine in human serum spiked with several pharmaceutical preparations that contain other drugs which do not produce any kind of interference. Finally, solutions of B6 vitamins kept at -201 degrees C are stable for up to 3 months. CONCLUSIONS: Using the method proposed here, with an SDS-pentanol mobile phase, it is possible to carry out the fast sensitive determination of B6 vitamins in serum following direct injection, without sample pretreatment.

Micellar liquid chromatography determination of B vitamins with direct injection and ultraviolet absorbance detection.

A micellar reversed-phase liquid chromatographic procedure was developed for the control of five water-soluble vitamins, B (nicotinamide), B1 (thiamine), B2 (riboflavin), B6 (pyridoxine and pyridoxamine), in multivitamin pharmaceutical formulations (capsules, pills and syrups). Optimization procedure includes studies about the composition of the mobile phase (sodium dodecyl sulphate and the modifiers propanol, butanol or pentanol), flow-rate and temperature. Chromatographic analysis of all vitamins was carried out using a single mobile phase of 0.1 M SDS-4% (v/v) pentanol at pH 3, in a C18 column in isocratic mode, and UV-detection at 270, 290 and 325 nm. The flow-rates selected were 1.0 ml/min in the interval 0 to 6 min, and 2.0 ml/min until the end of the chromatogram and temperature was 45 degrees C. In the micellar liquid chromatographic system, the samples were injected without pretreatment, and the analysis time was below 12 min. Repeatabilities and intermediate precision were achieved according to ICH, and were below 5%. When the method is applied to real samples, the amount found with respect to the declared compositions were within the 91-105% range. These results were similar to those obtained with a conventional 60:40 (v/v) methanol-water mixture for some of the vitamins, but with the advantage of use a single mobile phase for the analyses of the five vitamins, with direct injection of the samples and reduced toxicity, flammability, environmental impact and cost of the micellar-pentanol solutions.