Ikuo Ueta

Breath acetone analysis with miniaturized sample preparation device: In-needle preconcentration and subsequent determination by gas chromatography–mass spectroscopy

A new approach to the determination of human breath acetone with particle-packed sample preparation needle was developed. The extraction needle was packed with a copolymer of methacrylic acid and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate as the extraction medium. For the analysis of breath sample, exhaled breath was collected in a sampling bag, and 50 mL of the breath sample was extracted with the needle-type sample preparation device followed by analysis using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). After the optimization of several basic extraction conditions for standard acetone samples, breath acetone concentration taken from controlled type-2 diabetic patients was determined. Furthermore, time variations of breath and urine acetone of four healthy individuals under fasting conditions were measured. Urine sample was collected in glass vial, and urine acetone concentration was also determined with the extraction needle by analyzing the corresponding headspace gas. The results demonstrated that the particle-packed extraction needle showed an excellent extraction performance for acetone in both breath and urine headspace samples, and that there is a clear correlation between the concentration of breath acetone and HbA1c level of controlled type-2 diabetic patients. The breath acetone level in controlled diabetic patients was in the range between 0.19 and 0.66 ppmv, where its concentration in medically untreated type-2 patient was 0.92 and 1.20 ppmv. The breath acetone concentration in healthy male was increased to 5.66 ppmv under the 24 h of fasting test, and a high correlation between the breath and urine acetone concentration was also observed. On the basis of the above results, the potential applications of the proposed method to the diagnosis of diabetes and/or ketoacidosis were suggested.

Rapid determination of ethylene oxide with fiber-packed sample preparation needle

Fiber-packed sample preparation device was applied to the simultaneous derivatization/preconcentration of ethylene oxide (EO) in air samples. The polymer-coated filaments were packed longitudinally into the needle, and hydrogen bromide (HBr) was loaded onto the filaments in the preconditioning process. Simultaneous derivatization with HBr in the needle was made during the sampling process of the gaseous EO, and the corresponding derivatized analyte, 2-bromoethanol, was desorbed by passing a small amount of methanol through the extraction needle in the heated gas chromatograph (GC) injector. The basic extraction/desorption parameters for EO have been evaluated. The limit of detection (LOD), limit of quantification (LOQ) and the relative standard deviation (RSD) of run-to-run repeatability were 1.8 ng/L, 5.4 ng/L and less than 4%, respectively, with an extraction time of about 10 min. Satisfactory storage performance for three days at room temperature was also confirmed.

Novel sample preparation technique with needle-type micro-extraction device for volatile organic compounds in indoor air samples

A novel needle-type sample preparation device was developed for the effective preconcentration of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in indoor air before gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis. To develop a device for extracting a wide range of VOCs typically found in indoor air, several types of particulate sorbents were tested as the extraction medium in the needle-type extraction device. To determine the content of these VOCs, air samples were collected for 30min with the packed sorbent(s) in the extraction needle, and the extracted VOCs were thermally desorbed in a GC injection port by the direct insertion of the needle. A double-bed sorbent consisting of a needle packed with divinylbenzene and activated carbon particles exhibited excellent extraction and desorption performance and adequate extraction capacity for all the investigated VOCs. The results also clearly demonstrated that the proposed sample preparation method is a more rapid, simpler extraction/desorption technique than traditional sample preparation methods.

Needle-type extraction device for the purge and trap analysis of 23 volatile organic compounds in tap water.

We developed a rapid determination technique for trace volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in tap water by introducing a novel needle-type extraction device coupled to a purge-and-trap method. To extract a wide range of VOCs, a new extraction needle containing particles of divinylbenzene and activated carbon was developed in this study. During the active sampling of the headspace gas in a glass vial by the extraction needle, pure N2 gas was used for purging the aqueous sample. After the optimization of several experimental parameters, such as the addition of the salt and conditions of dry purging and desorption, the extraction performance of the device and method was evaluated for 23 VOCs that are typically found in tap water samples. The quantification limits of the method were 0.6 μg/L for 1,1-dichloroethylene and less than 0.5 μg/L for other VOCs, with good repeatability being confirmed for all the target compounds. Taking advantage of the excellent recovery of VOCs, the determination of VOCs in real tap water samples was carried out successfully. Because the developed method does not require sample heating and/or cryogenic focusing, simple and rapid analyses can be performed along with satisfactory sensitivity for typical tap water samples.

Determination of breath isoprene and acetone concentration with a needle-type extraction device in gas chromatography–mass spectrometry

BACKGROUND Isoprene in human breath is said to be related to cholesterol metabolism, and the possibility of the correlations with some clinical parameters has been studied. However, at this stage, no clear benefit of breath isoprene has been reported for clinical diagnosis. In this work, isoprene and acetone concentrations were measured in the breath of healthy and obese subjects using a needle-type extraction device for subsequent analysis in gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) to investigate the possibility of these compounds as an indicator of possible diseases. METHODS After measuring intraday and interday variations of isoprene and acetone concentrations in breath samples of healthy subjects, their concentrations were also determined in 80 healthy and 17 obese subjects. In addition, correlation between these breath concentrations and the blood tests result was studied for these healthy and obese subjects. RESULTS The results indicated successful determination of breath isoprene and acetone in this work, however, no clear correlation was observed between these measured values and the blood test results. CONCLUSIONS Breath isoprene concentration may not be a useful indicator for obesity or hypercholesterolemia.

Determination of very volatile organic compounds in water samples by purge and trap analysis with a needle-type extraction device.

Very volatile organic compounds (VVOCs), such as methanol, acetaldehyde, ethanol, acetone, acetonitrile, and dichloromethane, were extracted from water samples using a needle-type extraction device based on purge and trap analysis. The extracted analytes could then be determined by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. By introducing carbon molecular sieves as the extraction medium, aqueous VVOCs could be successfully extracted using the extraction needle. The limit of quantification for methanol, acetaldehyde, ethanol, acetone, acetonitrile, and dichloromethane were 75, 75, 7.5, 0.5, 10 and 0.5 μg/L, respectively. This newly developed method was also successfully applied to the determination of VVOCs in commercial samples, such as fruit juice.

Double-bed-type extraction needle packed with activated-carbon-based sorbents for very volatile organic compounds

A novel needle-type sample preparation device was developed for the determination of very volatile organic compounds (VVOCs) in gaseous samples by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Two types of activated-carbon-based sorbents, Carbopack X and a carbon molecular sieve (CMS), were investigated as the extraction medium. A double-bed-type extraction needle showed successful extraction and desorption performance for all investigated VVOCs, including acetaldehyde, isoprene, pentane, acetone, and ethanol. Sensitive and reliable determination of VVOCs was achieved by systematically optimizing several desorption conditions. In addition, the effects of sample humidity on the extraction and desorption of analytes were investigated with the needle-type extraction devices. Only the CMS packed extraction needle was adversely affected by sample humidity during the desorption process; on the other hand the double-bed-type extraction needle was unaffected by sample humidity. Finally, the developed double-bed-type extraction needle was successfully applied to the analysis of breath VVOCs of healthy subjects.

Development of novel fiber-packed needle interface for off-line reversed-phase liquid chromatography-capillary gas chromatography.

For two-dimensional reversed-phase liquid chromatography-gas chromatography (2D RPLC-GC), a specially-designed needle packed with a polymer-coated fibrous stationary phase was introduced as a novel interface. The bundle of synthetic fibers coated with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) was packed into the head section of the needle, and served as the extraction medium. Using the post-column dilution of the LC eluent by water and subsequent extraction with the needle interface, the analyte was successfully concentrated to the PDMS phase on the fibrous support in the needle. The concentrated analytes were directly injected to GC system by inserting the needle to a heated GC injector. 2D separations of aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons, and also kerosene-extract were performed with the off-line RPLC-GC system interfaced by the needle extractor. The results suggested that the fiber-packed needle interface could be one of the simple and effective approaches to develop an on-line coupled LC-GC system.

Molecular Shape Selectivity for Polycyclic Aromatic Compounds on a Core–Shell Octadecylsilica Stationary Phase at Subambient Column Temperatures

Molecular shape selectivity for polycyclic aromatic compounds on a core–shell-type octadecylsilica (ODS) phase at subambient column temperatures was studied in reversed-phase liquid chromatography. The plate height on the core–shell ODS column was relatively stable at subambient column temperatures when compared with that of a conventional ODS column. In order to compare the sample diffusivities in the conventional and core–shell ODS columns, van Deemter plots were prepared. The plate height of the core–shell column was significantly lower than that of conventional column, suggesting an advantageous feature of the core–shell-type stationary phase especially at a high flowrate of the mobile phase. An enhanced molecular shape recognition capability of the core–shell ODS phase was also confirmed at subambient column temperature. The result could be consistent with an improved shape selectivity as normally observed on conventional ODS phases at low temperatures, however, the enhanced molecular shape recognition capability of the core–shell phase enables a good separation between benz[a]anthracene and chrysene at subambient column temperatures. Similar improved shape selectivities for terphenyl isomers were also confirmed on the core–shell phase.

Effect of Counter‐Anions on the Retention of Zwitterionic Quinolones in Reversed‐Phase Liquid Chromatography

Abstract The effects of counter‐anions on the reversed‐phase HPLC retention of zwitterionic quinolones were studied. Four counter‐anions, perchlorate, tetrafluoroborate, trifluoroacetate, and dihydrogenphosphate, were used as mobile phase additives. HPLC analysis was performed at a mobile phase pH 3, to ensure the complete protonation of the piperizine ring and to suppress the ionization of the carboxylic acid groups of the analytes. Results showed that retention factors of all analytes increased to varying degrees with increasing counter‐anion concentration. The increase in retention of the analytes is attributed to the chaotropic effect exhibited by the counter‐anions. Complete separation of all the studied compounds was achieved by varying the type and amount of counter‐anions present in the mobile phase. The changes in selectivity offered by these counter‐anions would be beneficial, especially for developing chromatographic methods for the analysis of quinolones in different sample matrices.