Application of a Cholesterol-Based Stationary Phase for the Analysis of Brevetoxins.

A high-performance liquid chromatography protocol for the analysis of brevetoxins has been developed using a silica hydride-based cholesterol column. Brevetoxins are neurotoxins produced by harmful algae that have additional potential as drugs for a number of illnesses/diseases. To develop the optimum conditions, a number of different experimental approaches were tested. These include isocratic and gradient elution, different organic mobile phase components, and temperature variations. A separate protocol was developed for the compounds brevenal and brevenol, also produced by the same algae that make brevetoxins. Brevenal is a natural product under investigation as a therapy for chronic respiratory diseases, such as cystic fibrosis or asthma. The goal of this study was to provide a protocol for the analysis of these compounds that could be further developed into a validated method depending on a particular laboratory's capabilities and to highlight some of the unique features of the cholesterol stationary phase.

Silica Hydride: A Separation Material Every Analyst Should Know About.

This review describes the development, special features and applications of silica hydride-based stationary phases for HPLC. The unique surface of this material is in contrast to ordinary, standard silica, which is the material most frequently used in modern HPLC stationary phases. The standard silica surface contains mainly silanol (Si-OH) groups, while the silica hydride surface is instead composed of silicon-hydrogen groups, which is much more stable, less reactive and delivers different chromatographic and chemical characteristics. Other aspects of this material are described for each of the different bonded moieties available commercially. Some applications for each of these column types are also presented as well as a generic model for method development on silica hydride-based stationary phases.

Chromatographic characterization of a silica hydride-based amide stationary phase.

An amide phase based on a porous silica hydride support material is tested for retention characteristics in both the reversed-phase and aqueous normal-phase modes. A series of retention maps (capacity factor vs. mobile phase composition) were obtained using reference standards of varying analyte sizes, functionalities, and polarities. An assessment of the specific column selectivity is made and classes of compounds are identified that show high potential for effective retention, resolution, and efficiency when using amide functionalized silica hydride columns for reversed-phase and aqueous-normal phase separation. Several practical applications are presented that illustrate the capabilities of this particular column format.

Application of linear solvation energy relationships and principal component analysis methods for the prediction of the retention behaviour of E-resveratrol analogues with substituted silica hydride stationary phases.

In this investigation, application of linear solvent energy relationships (LSERs) and principal component analysis (PCA) methods have been employed to investigate the structure-retention dependencies of E-resveratrol analogues separated under different stationary and mobile phase conditions. To this end, the retention of 22 analogues have been determined with phenyl, diol, bidentate anchored C18 (BDC18) and Diamond Hydride™ C18 (DHC18) substituted silica hydride stationary phases under isocratic chromatographic conditions using mobile phases containing 0.1 (% v/v) formic acid and different acetonitrile or methanol contents from 10 to 90% (v/v) in 10% increments. In general, these compounds showed decreasing retention with increased acetonitrile or methanol content in the mobile phase with all the stationary phases. The retention order generally followed their log P values, although some unique selectivity variations were apparent depending on the nature of the selected stationary and mobile phases. These 22 compounds contained different backbone functionalities linking the phenyl ring A to phenyl ring B and different numbers of hydroxyl groups in the phenyl ring A/phenyl ring B. Structure-retention descriptors, derived according to LSER concepts, were analysed by PCA methods to provide group classification of these resveratrol analogues from the associated PC1 versus PC2 score plots. These results revealed that the selectivity of these compounds was dominated by hydrophobic and steric interactions. Based on the number and position of hydroxyl groups in a specific resveratrol analogue, a reliable curve fitting approach (indicated by R2 > 0.99 for the correlation between experimental and predicted log k values) was derived for prediction of the retention of these analytes under different mobile phase isocratic separation conditions. The application of similar methods are anticipated to find general utility for the analysis of diverse classes of other low molecular mass compounds in the different modes of liquid chromatography, permitting enhanced levels of prediction and evaluation of the retention attributes of polar and non-polar compounds.

Evaluating novel silica hydride-based stationary phases for the analysis of phytocannabinoids and other psychoactive drugs.

Three silica hydride based novel chromatographic phases chemically-bonded with allyloxy-DL-alpha-tocopherol, allylpentafluorophenyl, and 1-eicosene moieties were evaluated as separation media for selected phytocannabinoids and other substances of abuse. In order to assess column selectivity, a series of reference standards was analyzed and detected by using liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry. Further, quantitative detections of cannabidiol and tetrahydrocannabinol were attempted for the extracts of cannabis plants and cannabidiol gummy formulation. For potential bioanalytical applications, the columns were evaluated for substance screening in a human urine matrix. In summary, the newly developed columns are functional and effective for the analysis of phytocannabinoids and various psychoactive drugs with or without the presence of biological matrices.

Rapid analysis of pyridinoline and deoxypyridinoline in biological samples by liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry and a silica hydride column.

Pyridinoline and deoxypyridinoline crosslinks are biomarkers found in urine for collagen degradation in bone turnover. For the first time, a rapid, sensitive, and ion-pairing free method is described for the analysis of pyridinoline and deoxypyridinoline using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography with Cogent Diamond Hydride column and detection by Q Exactive hybrid quadrupole-orbitrap high resolution accurate mass spectrometry. The separation was achieved using both isocratic and gradient conditions and run time <5 min under isocratic conditions of 20% acetonitrile in water containing 0.1% formic acid. Pyridoxine was used as an internal standard and relative standard deviation of the retention times of both pyridinoline and deoxypyridinoline were <1%. The limit of detection was 0.082 ± 0.023 µM for pyridinoline and 0.118 ± 0.052 µM for deoxypyridinoline. The limit of quantitation was 0.245 ± 0.070 µM for pyridinoline and 0.354 ± 0.157 µM for deoxypyridinoline. The method was validated by the detection and quantitation of both pyridinoline and deoxypyridinoline in skin and urine samples.

Origin of the selectivity differences of aromatic alcohols and amines of different n-alkyl chain length separated with perfluorinated C8 and bidentated C8 modified silica hydride stationary phases.

Perfluorinated C8-(PerfluoroC8) and bidentate anchored C8-(BDC8)-modified silica hydride stationary phases have been employed for the isocratic separation of homologous phenylalkanols and phenylalkylamines differing in their n-alkyl chain length, using aqueous-acetonitrile (ACN) mobile phases of different ACN contents from 10 to 90% (v/v) in 10% increments. These analytes showed reversed-phase (RP) retention behaviour with mobile phases of <40% (v/v) ACN content with both stationary phases but with the BDC8 stationary phase providing longer retention. The PerfluoroC8, but not the BDC8, stationary phase also exhibited significant retention of these analytes under conditions typical of an aqueous normal phase (ANP) mode (i.e. with mobile phases of >80% (v/v) ACN content), with the analytes exhibiting overall U-shape retention dependencies on the ACN content of the mobile phase. Further, these stationary phases showed differences in their selectivity behaviour with regard to the n-alkyl chain lengths of the different analytes. These observations could not be explained in terms of pK a , log P, molecular mass or linear solvation energy concepts. However, density functional theory (DFT) simulations provided a possible explanation for the observed selectivity trends, namely differences in the molecular geometries and structural organisation of the immobilised ligands of these two stationary phases under different solvational conditions. For mobile phase conditions favouring the RP mode, these DFT simulations revealed that interactions between adjacent BDC8 ligands occur, leading to a stationary phase with a more hydrophobic surface. Moreover, under mobile phase conditions favouring retention of the analytes in an ANP mode, these interactions of the bidentate-anchored C8 ligands resulted in hindered analyte access to potential ANP binding sites on the BDC8 stationary phase surface. With the PerfluoroC8 stationary phase, the DFT simulations revealed strong repulsion of individual perfluoroC8 ligand chains, with the perfluoroC8 ligands of this stationary phase existing in a more open brush-like state (and with a less hydrophobic surface) compared to the BDC8 ligands. These DFT simulation results anticipated the chromatographic findings that the phenylalkanols and phenylalkylamines had reduced retention in the RP mode with the PerfluoroC8 stationary phase. Moreover, the more open ligand structure of the PerfluoroC8 stationary phase enabled greater accessibility of the analytes to water solvated binding sites on the stationary phase surface under mobile phase conditions favouring an ANP retention mode, leading to retention of the analytes, particularly the smaller phenylalkylamines, via hydrogen bonding and electrostatic effects.

Liquid Chromatography with mass spectrometry analysis of mycotoxins in food samples using silica hydride based stationary phases.

Liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry analysis of selected food samples using silica hydride stationary phases allowed for the identification and quantification of common mycotoxins including aflatoxin B1, B2, G1, G2, ochratoxin A, and fumosinin B1. Phenyl and C18 columns showed relatively similar selectivity based on hydrophobicity but the phenyl phase provides an additional mechanism, π-π interaction. The most hydrophobic of the analyzed compounds was more strongly retained on the C18 column and also has fewer unsaturated sites, which limited the interaction with the phenyl phase. Bean, maize, rice, and wheat samples were harvested and stored under conditions conducive to fungal development, and all samples presented toxin contamination exceeding the maximum tolerable limits.

Phenolic composition of pomegranate peel extracts using an liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry approach with silica hydride columns.

The peels of different pomegranate cultivars (Molla Nepes, Parfianka, Purple Heart, Wonderful and Vkunsyi) were compared in terms of phenolic composition and total phenolics. Analyses were performed on two silica hydride based stationary phases: phenyl and undecanoic acid columns. Quantitation was accomplished by developing a liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry approach for separating different phenolic analytes, initially in the form of reference standards and then with pomegranate extracts. The high-performance liquid chromatography columns used in the separations had the ability to retain a wide polarity range of phenolic analytes, as well as offering beneficial secondary selectivity mechanisms for resolving the isobaric compounds, catechin and epicatechin. The Vkunsyi peel extract had the highest concentration of phenolics (as determined by liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry) and was the only cultivar to contain the important compound punicalagin. The liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry data were compared to the standard total phenolics content as determined by using the Folin-Ciocalteu assay.

The separation and analysis of symmetric and asymmetric dimethylarginine and other hydrophilic isobaric compounds using aqueous normal phase chromatography.

Two biologically important compounds with clinical relevance, asymmetric dimethylarginine and symmetric dimethylarginine, are analyzed using aqueous normal phase chromatography on silica hydride-based columns. Two different stationary phases were tested, a commercially available Diamond Hydride™ and a 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropane sulfonic acid experimental column. Two types of analytical protocols were investigated: analysis of the compounds when separation was achieved and analysis of the compounds with partial chromatographic separation. Urine samples from tuberculosis patients were tested for levels of asymmetric and symmetric dimethylarginine. The mass spectrometric technique of in-source fragmentation that can provide data similar to a tandem mass analyzer was evaluated as a means of identification and quantitation of the two compounds when complete separation is not achieved. This same protocol was also evaluated for two other isobaric compounds, glucose-1 and glucose-6 phohsphate, and leucine and isoleucine.

Investigations into the separation behaviour of perfluorinated C8 and undecanoic acid modified silica hydride stationary phases.

In this study, the surface charge properties of perfluorinated C8 (PerfluoroC8) and undecanoic acid (UDA) modified silica hydride stationary phases have been investigated. The zeta potential values of these stationary phases were measured in aqueous/acetonitrile mobile phases of different pH, buffer concentrations and acetonitrile contents. The retention behaviour of several basic, acidic and neutral compounds were then examined with these two stationary phases, with U-shaped retention dependencies evident with regard to the organic solvent content of the mobile phase. Plots of the logarithmic retention factor versus buffer concentration revealed slopes ≥ -0.41 for both stationary phases, indicating the involvement of mixed mode retention mechanisms with contributions from both ionic and non-ionic interactions. Using a linear solvation energy relationship approach, the origins of these interactions under different mobile phase conditions were differentiated and quantified. The PerfluoroC8 stationary phase exhibited stronger retention for basic compounds under high acetonitrile content mobile phase conditions, whilst stronger retention was observed for all compounds with the UDA stationary phase under high aqueous content mobile phase conditions. The more negative zeta potentials of the UDA stationary phase correlated with higher total charge density, surface charge density and charge density at the beta plane (the outer plane of the double layer) compared to the PerfluoroC8 stationary phase. With mobile phases of low buffer concentrations, more negative zeta potential values were unexpectedly observed for the PerfluoroC8 stationary phase with slight increases in the C descriptor value, reflecting also the greater accessibility of the analytes to the stationary phase surface. Comparison of the retention behaviours on these phases with other types of silica hydride stationary phases has revealed different patterns of selectivity.

Evaluation of the dual retention properties of stationary phases based on silica hydride: Perfluorinated bonded material.

The synthesis of a new perfluorinated stationary phase based on silica hydride using a hydrosilation reaction was investigated. The material was characterized by elemental analysis, diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy and (13) C cross-polarization magic-angle spinning NMR spectroscopy. The retention properties of this new material were tested in the reversed-phase and normal-phase mode. Variable buffer strength experiments at two pH conditions for selected polar compounds were used to compare the new phase to hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography retention. These results and previous data reported in the literature were used to postulate differences in the retention mechanism between hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography and silica hydride-based stationary phases.

Ammonium fluoride as a mobile phase additive in aqueous normal phase chromatography.

The use of ammonium fluoride as a mobile phase additive in aqueous normal phase chromatography with silica hydride-based stationary phases and mass spectrometry detection is evaluated. Retention times, peak shape, efficiency and peak intensity are compared to the more standard additives formic acid and ammonium formate. The test solutes were NAD, 3-hydroxyglutaric acid, α-ketoglutaric acid, p-aminohippuric acid, AMP, ATP, aconitic acid, threonine, N-acetyl carnitine, and 3-methyladipic acid. The column parameters are assessed in both the positive and negative ion detection modes. Ammonium fluoride is potentially an aggressive mobile phase additive that could have detrimental effects on column lifetime. Column reproducibility is measured and the effects of switching between different additives are also tested.

Insights into the origin of the separation selectivity with silica hydride adsorbents.

In this study, the surface properties of type-B silica have been compared with an unmodified silica hydride phase, a diamond hydride phase and silica hydride phases modified with bidentate anchored octyl (BDC8), bidentate anchored octadecyl (BDC18), phenyl and cholesteryl groups. Atomic distributions of the surface elemental composition of each type of stationary phase were determined using energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. For the type-B silica, unmodified silica hydride, diamond hydride as well as BDC18 and cholesteryl silica hydride phases, the increase in carbon contents correlated with more negative surface ζ potential values (R(2) = 0.92). The origin of these more negative ζ potentials has been evaluated with mobile phases up to 100% (v/v) methanol content, with this property attributed to either an increase in the amount of adsorbed hydroxide ions or a decrease in the amount of adsorbed protons on the surfaces modified silica hydride phases of higher carbon content. This property of chemically modified silica hydride phases is in accordance with the unique propensity for hydroxide ions to be preferentially adsorbed onto hydrophobic surfaces of low permittivity and effects due to the specific accumulated water molecules associated with the electrical interfacial double layer of the adsorbent.

Analysis of ethyl glucuronide and ethyl sulfate using aqueous normal-phase chromatography with mass spectrometry.

The use of aqueous normal-phase chromatography is explored as a possible format for the analysis of the forensically significant compounds ethyl glucuronide and ethyl sulfate. Standard solutions of the two compounds are used to verify the retention capabilities of two stationary phases (diamond hydride and undecanoic acid). These results are then compared to data obtained on hair extracts to determine if any matrix effects exist with respect to both retention and peak shape. The undecanoic stationary phase is used for the establishment of calibration curves for quantitative analysis. These curves are utilized to determine the concentration of ethyl glucuronide in several hair samples tested.

Prediction of the zeta potentials and ionic descriptors of a silica hydride stationary phase with mobile phases of different pH and ionic strength.

In this study, the zeta potentials of a silica hydride stationary phase (Diamond Hydride™) in the presence of different water-acetonitrile mixtures (from 0-80% (v/v) acetonitrile) of different ionic strengths (from 0-40mM) and pH values (from pH 3.0-7.0) have been investigated. Debye-Hückel theory was applied to explain the effect of changes in the pH and ionic strength of these aqueous media on the negative zeta potential of this stationary phase. The experimental zeta potentials of the Diamond Hydride™ particles as a function of acetonitrile content up to 50% (v/v) correlated (R(2)=0.998) with the predicted zeta potential values based on this established theory, when the values of the dissociation constant of all related species, as well as viscosity, dielectric constant and refractive index of the aqueous medium were taken into consideration. Further, the retention behavior of basic, acidic and neutral analytes was investigated under mobile phase conditions of higher pH and lower ionic strength. Under these conditions, the Diamond Hydride™ stationary phase surface became more negative, as assessed from the increasingly more negative zeta potentials, resulting in the ion exchange characteristics becoming more dominant and the basic analytes showing increasing retention. Ionic descriptors were derived from these chromatographic experiments based on the assumption that linear solvation energy relationships prevail. The results were compared with predicted ionic descriptors based on the different calculated zeta potential values resulting in an overall correlation of R(2)=0.888. These studies provide fundamental insights into the impact on the separation performance of changes in the zeta potential of the Diamond Hydride™ surface with the results relevant to other silica hydride and, potentially, to other types of stationary phase materials.

Enantiomers separation by nano-liquid chromatography: use of a novel sub-2 µm vancomycin silica hydride stationary phase.

A novel sub-2 µm chiral stationary phase (CSP) was prepared immobilizing vancomycin onto 1.8 µm diol hydride-based silica particles. The CSP was packed into fused silica capillaries of 75 µm i.d. with a length of 11 cm and evaluated by means of nano-liquid chromatography (nano-LC) using model compounds of both pharmaceutical and environmental interest (some non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, ß-blockers and herbicides). The study of the effect of the linear velocity of the mobile phase on chromatographic efficiency showed good enantioresolutions up to a value of 5.11 at the optimal linear velocity with efficiencies in terms of number of plates per meter in the range 51,650-68,330. The results were compared with the ones obtained employing 5 µm vancomycin modified diol-silica particles packed in capillaries of the same i.d. For the acidic analytes the sub-2 µm CSP showed better performances, the baseline chiral separation of several studied compounds occurred in an analysis time of less than 3 min. Column-to-column packing reproducibility (n=3) expressed as relative standard deviation was in the range 2.2-5.8% and 0.5-7.7% for retention times and peak areas, respectively.

Comparison of the performance of different silica hydride particles for the solid-phase extraction of non-volatile analytes from dark chocolate with analysis by gas chromatography-quadrupole mass spectrometry.

The extraction capabilities of a Diamond Hydride™ phase, as well as silica hydride phases modified with bidentate octadecyl (BDC(18)), phenyl or cholesteryl groups, were evaluated for the analysis of fatty acids, amino acids, sugars and sterols in a dark chocolate extract. These batch adsorption performances were investigated using either methanol or aqueous methanol as the solvent. The compositions of the extracted fractions were assessed by gas chromatography interfaced with quadrupole mass spectrometry (GC-qMS). The batch binding propensities of the various compound classes with silica hydride particles modified with immobilised phenyl groups or larger ligands followed trends predicted from linear solvation energy relationships. Both prediction and experiment revealed that better extraction results could be obtained with the phenyl, BDC(18) and cholesteryl hydride particles for the major chocolate components. Based on these results, separations in micro-pipette tip format with these three types of stationary phase particles have been undertaken.

Correlations between the zeta potentials of silica hydride-based stationary phases, analyte retention behaviour and their ionic interaction descriptors.

In this study, the zeta potentials of type-B silica, bare silica hydride, the so-called Diamond Hydride™ and phenyl substituted silica hydride stationary phases have been measured in aqueous-organic media and correction procedures developed to account for the more negative zeta potential values in media containing different acetonitrile contents. Retention studies of 16 basic, acidic and neutral compounds were also performed with these four stationary phases with mobile phases containing 0.1% (v/v) formic acid and various acetonitrile-water compositions ranging from 0-90% (v/v) acetonitrile. The retention properties of these analytes were correlated to the corrected stationary phase zeta potentials measured under these different mobile phase conditions with R(2) values ranging from 0.01 to 1.00, depending on the stationary phase and analyte type. Using linear solvation energy relationships, stationary phase descriptors for each stationary phase have been developed for the different mobile phase conditions. Very high correlations of the zeta potentials with the ionic interaction descriptors were obtained for the type-B silica and the Diamond Hydride™ phases and good correlation with bare silica hydride material whilst there was no correlation observed for the phenyl substituted silica hydride phase. The nature of the retention mechanisms which gives rise to these different observations is discussed. The described methods represent a useful new approach to characterize and assess the retention properties of silica-hydride based chromatographic stationary phases of varying bonded-phase coverage and chemistries, as would be broadly applicable to other types of stationary phase used in the separation sciences.

Analysis of thiopurines using aqueous normal phase chromatography.

The chromatography of several thiopurines is investigated using aqueous normal phase (ANP) conditions in conjunction with a silica hydride-based column. Both isocratic and gradient elution modes are tested. Detection of higher concentration samples is done by UV to demonstrate feasibility in this format while lower concentration samples utilize mass spectrometry (MS). Repeatability of successive runs is also tested with particular attention to gradient methods where the equilibration time of the stationary phase can be evaluated.