Agustín Acquaviva

Effect of temperature and solvent composition on acid dissociation equilibria, I: Sequenced pssKa determination of compounds commonly used as buffers in high performance liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectroscopy detection

A new automated and rapid potentiometric method for determining the effect of organic-solvent composition on pK(a) has been developed. It is based on the measurements of pH values of buffer solutions of variable solvent compositions using a combined glass electrode. Additions of small volumes of one precisely thermostated solution into another, both containing exactly the same analytical concentrations of the buffer components, can produce continuous changes in the solvent composition. Two sequences of potential measurements, one of increasing and the other of decreasing solvent content, are sufficient to obtain the pK(a) values of the acidic compound within the complete solvent-composition range in about 2h. The experimental design, procedures, and calculations needed to convert the measured pH into the thermodynamic pK(a) values are thoroughly discussed. This rapid and automated method allows the systematic study of the effect of solvent compositions and temperatures on the pK(a). It has been applied to study the dissociation constants of two monoprotic acids: formic acid and triethylamine:HCl in acetonitrile/water mixtures within the range from 0 to 90% (v/v) at temperatures between 20°C and 60°C. These volatile compounds are frequently used to control the pH of the mobile phase in HPLC, especially in methods coupled to mass-spectrometry detection. The obtained pK(a) values are in excellent agreement with those previously reported. The results were fitted to empirical functions between pK(a) and temperature and composition. These equations, which can be used to estimate the pK(a) of these substances at any composition and temperature, would be highly useful in practical work during chromatographic method development.

Reliable and simple analytical methods for determination of citrulline and metabolically related amino acids by liquid chromatography after derivatization: comparison between monolithic and core–shell columns

We describe the development of a high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method for the determination of citrulline and other amino acids relevant to intestinal diseases. The amino acids were derivatized with 9-fluorenylmethylchloroformate (FMOC-Cl) and their derivatives were separated on two different columns, a core–shell column (Halo C18) and a silica-based monolith (Chromolith Performance RP-18). The derivatization reaction was optimized with respect to pH, buffer concentration and reproducibility. The optimal derivatization conditions were achieved with 0.4 M borate buffer at pH 9.20, a constant ratio of FMOC-Cl/total amino acids (10 : 1) and 75 mM tyramine after 1 min (quenching reaction). The separation conditions with both chromatographic supports were also optimized. The chromatographic performance (peak capacity and global resolution) of these two columns was compared. This proposed HPLC-UV method was satisfactorily applied to the analysis of a real plasma sample.

Automatized pssKa measurements of dihydrogen phosphate and Tris(hydroxymethyl) aminomethane in acetonitrile/water mixtures from 20 to 60 °C

We measured pKa values of Tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane and dihydrogen phosphate; both are commonly used to prepare buffers for reverse-phase liquid chromatography (RPLC), in acetonitrile/water mixtures from 0% to 70% (v/v) (64.6% (w/w)) acetonitrile and at 20, 30, 40, 50, and 60°C. The procedure is based on potentiometric measurements of pH of buffer solutions of variable solvent compositions using a glass electrode and a novel automated system. The method consists in the controlled additions of small volumes of a thermostated solution from an automatic buret into another isothermal solution containing exactly the same buffer-component concentrations, but a different solvent composition. The continuous changes in the solvent composition induce changes in the potentials. Thus, only two sequences of additions are needed: increasing the amount of acetonitrile from pure water and decreasing the content of acetonitrile from 70% (v/v) (64.6% (w/w)). In the procedure with homemade apparatus, times for additions, stirring, homogenization, and data acquisition are entirely controlled by software programmed for this specific routine. This rapid, fully automated method was applied to acquire more than 40 potential data covering the whole composition range (at each temperature) in about two hours and allowed a systematic study of the effect of temperature and acetonitrile composition on acid-base equilibria of two widely used substances to control pH close to 7. The experimental pKa results were fitted to empirical functions between pKa and temperature and acetonitrile composition. These equations allowed predictions of pKa to estimate the pH of mixtures at any composition and temperature, which would be very useful, for instance, during chromatographic method development.

Synchronized gradient elution in capillary liquid chromatography.

The synchronization of injection valve operation and gradient elution in capillary liquid chromatography (cHPLC) is studied. Focus is placed on the cHPLC systems which rely on the splitting of a primary flow to provide the much smaller secondary flow required at the injection device and analytical column. Owing to the tiny secondary flow rates, synchronization is necessary to achieve proper optimization of gradient elution methods. Otherwise, there is a risk of having the analytes totally or partially eluted in the initial isocratic conditions, and there is no control on the actual gradient profile reaching the column. Synchronization is first achieved by switching back the valve to bypass after injection. This is important to save time, and to avoid the gradient slope to be reduced by mixing within the internal volume of the injector (a 47% of slope reduction, in the conditions used in this work). Valve switching to bypass should be produced immediately after the arrival of the end of the sample plug to the valve (tV). Fine system synchronization is further achieved by starting the gradient at the match time (tM), which is the time required to match the arrival of both the gradient front and the end of the sample plug to the valve, and therefore also to the column inlet. Synchronization of these two events requires starting the gradient either before or even after the injection, thus to prevent a late or an early arrival of the gradient front to the injection valve, respectively. Owing to their dependence with the backpressure, both tV and tM should be measured in the presence of the column at the initial gradient conditions. Simple experiments designed to measure tV and tM are described. With synchronization according to the techniques described in this work, control on the real gradient elution conditions at the column location is maintained, the analysis time is reduced and efficiency improves. The effects of synchronization are illustrated by injecting a mixture of alkylbenzenes. At 1μL min(-1), valve switching to bypass reduced analysis time from ca. 36 to 12min (butylbenzene), and improved peak symmetry (from 2.00 to 0.94 for methylbenzene) and efficiency (the average apparent plate count increased approximately 60%). Synchronization according to the match time further improved efficiency (approximately, up to 120%).

Determinations of gas-liquid partition coefficients using capillary chromatographic columns. Alkanols in squalane.

This study focused on an investigation into the experimental quantities inherent in the determination of partition coefficients from gas-liquid chromatographic measurements through the use of capillary columns. We prepared several squalane - (2,6,10,15,19,23-hexamethyltetracosane) - containing columns with very precisely known phase ratios and determined solute retention and hold-up times at 30, 40, 50 and 60°C. We calculated infinite dilution partition coefficients from the slopes of the linear regression of retention factors as a function of the reciprocal of the phase ratio by means of fundamental chromatographic equations. In order to minimize gas-solid and liquid-solid interface contributions to retention, the surface of the capillary inner wall was pretreated to guarantee a uniform coat of stationary phase. The validity of the proposed approach was first tested by estimating the partition coefficients of n-alkanes between n-pentane and n-nonane, for which compounds data from the literature were available. Then partition coefficients of sixteen aliphatic alcohols in squalane were determined at those four temperatures. We deliberately chose these highly challenging systems: alcohols in the reference paraffinic stationary phase. These solutes exhibited adsorption in the gas-liquid interface that contributed to retention. The corresponding adsorption constant values were estimated. We fully discuss here the uncertainties associated with each experimental measurement and how these fundamental determinations can be performed precisely by circumventing the main drawbacks. The proposed strategy is reliable and much simpler than the classical chromatographic method employing packed columns.

High throughput method to characterize acid-base properties of insoluble drug candidates in water

HIGHLIGHTSFast Sequential Method is applied to study pKa(s,s) of drugs sparingly soluble in water.Thermodynamic pKa(s,s) are obtained at different methanol/water mixtures compositions.Two sequences provide pKa in wide solvent composition ranges.Yasuda‐Shedlovsky behavior and extrapolations are compared with empirical equations.Exponential of pKa(s,s)+log[H2O] vs%w/w describe the behavior in the whole range. ABSTRACT In drug design experimental characterization of acidic groups in candidate molecules is one of the more important steps prior to the in‐vivo studies. Potentiometry combined with Yasuda‐Shedlovsky extrapolation is one of the more important strategy to study drug candidates with low solubility in water, although, it requires a large number of sequences to determine pKa values at different solvent‐mixture compositions to, finally, obtain the pKa in water (Symbol) by extrapolation. We have recently proposed a method which requires only two sequences of additions to study the effect of organic solvent content in liquid chromatography mobile phases on the acidity of the buffer compounds usually dissolved in it along wide ranges of compositions. In this work we propose to apply this method to study thermodynamic Symbol of drug candidates with low solubilities in pure water. Using methanol/water solvent mixtures we study six pharmaceutical drugs at 25°C. Four of them: ibuprofen, salicylic acid, atenolol and labetalol, were chosen as members of carboxylic, amine and phenol families, respectively. Since these compounds have known Symbol values, they were used to validate the procedure, the accuracy of Yasuda‐Shedlovsky and other empirical models to fit the behaviors, and to obtain Symbol by extrapolation. Finally, the method is applied to determine unknown thermodynamic Symbol values of two pharmaceutical drugs: atorvastatin calcium and the two dissociation constants of ethambutol. The procedure proved to be simple, very fast and accurate in all of the studied cases. Symbol. No caption available. Symbol. No caption available. Symbol. No caption available. Symbol. No caption available. Symbol. No caption available.