Imre Molnár

Solvophobic interactions in liquid chromatography with nonpolar stationary phases

Abstract Solute interaction with nonpolar stationary phases in liquid chromatography is examined on the basis of the solvophobic theory. The chromatographic process is viewed as a reversible association of the solute with the hydrocarbonaceous ligands of bonded phases. A detailed analysis of the effect of the solvent on this process yields an expression for the capacity factor with essentially no adjustable constants. The theory satisfactorily accounts for the factors affecting solute retention under a wide range of experimental conditions. It makes possible the characterization of the solvophobic (eluent) strength of mixed solvents having different composition and the evaluation of the various solvophobic forces representing incremental values of the logarithm of the capacity factor. The wide applicability of nonpolar stationary phases (reversed phases) in liquid chromatography is demonstrated by the rapid separation of biogenic acids and bases on octadecylsilica columns with neat aqueous elements.

Separation of amino acids and peptides on non-polar stationary phases by high-performance liquid chromatography.

Microparticulate non-polar stationary phases, such as octadecyl-silica offer a rapid and efficient means for the separation of peptides and amino acids by high-performance liquid chromatography. Retention is attributed to hydrophobic interaction between the solutes and the hydrocarbonaceous functions covalently bound to the stationary phase surface. Consequently the species are eluted in the order of increasing hydrophobicity. Various peptide mixtures were analyzed by using gradient elution with increasing acetonitrile concentration in the eluent and monitoring the column effluent at 200 or 210 nm with an UV detector. The separation of angiotensins and enzymic digest of polypeptides illustrates the speed of the method which can be used to assay the purity of peptide hormones such as alpha-melanotropin and gramicidin or to analyze the composition of reaction mixtures involving peptides. The efficiency of the method is superior to that obtained on the conventionally used ion-exchanger columns, except for hydrophilic amino acids and peptides that are poorly retarded. Nevertheless, with a suitable ionic surfactant in the mobile phase, non-polar stationary phases can be used for the separation of these species as well.

Computerized design of separation strategies by reversed-phase liquid chromatography: development of DryLab software

The development of DryLab software is a special achievement in analytical HPLC which took place in the last 16 years. This paper tries to collect some of the historical mile stones and concepts. DryLab, being always subject to change according to the needs of the user, never stopped being developed. Under the influence of an ever changing science market, the DryLab development team had to consider not just scientific improvements, but also new technological achievements, such as the introduction of Windows 1.0 and 3.1, and later Windows NT and 2000. The recent availability of new 32-bit programming tools allowed calculations of chromatograms to be completed more quickly so as to show peak movements which result for example from slight changes in eluent pH. DryLab is a great success of interdisciplinary and intercontinental cooperation by many scientists.

Rapid high performance liquid chromatography method development with high prediction accuracy, using 5 cm long narrow bore columns packed with sub-2 μm particles and Design Space computer modeling

Many different strategies of reversed phase high performance liquid chromatographic (RP-HPLC) method development are used today. This paper describes a strategy for the systematic development of ultrahigh-pressure liquid chromatographic (UHPLC or UPLC) methods using 5cmx2.1mm columns packed with sub-2microm particles and computer simulation (DryLab((R)) package). Data for the accuracy of computer modeling in the Design Space under ultrahigh-pressure conditions are reported. An acceptable accuracy for these predictions of the computer models is presented. This work illustrates a method development strategy, focusing on time reduction up to a factor 3-5, compared to the conventional HPLC method development and exhibits parts of the Design Space elaboration as requested by the FDA and ICH Q8R1. Furthermore this paper demonstrates the accuracy of retention time prediction at elevated pressure (enhanced flow-rate) and shows that the computer-assisted simulation can be applied with sufficient precision for UHPLC applications (p>400bar). Examples of fast and effective method development in pharmaceutical analysis, both for gradient and isocratic separations are presented.

Computer-assisted optimization in the development of a high-performance liquid chromatographic method for the analysis of kava pyrones in Piper methysticum preparations.

A computer simulation program was used to optimize the separation for six kava pyrones and two unidentified components obtaining the best resolution and the shortest run time. With DryLab it was possible to find the best separation conditions without running a large number of possible combination of variables in the laboratory. Additionally, due to the systematic progress in method development a new eluent was found with excellent properties, namely 2-propanol. With 2-propanol, the largest number of components could be revealed in the shortest analysis time. Starting with four initial experiments, the software allowed to optimize gradient time tG and temperature T simultaneously. Changing other variables such as type of organic modifier, the eluent pH, the gradient form, and the flow-rate, the optimization resulted in resolution Rs > 1.5 for all kava pyrones and the two additional new bands. The HPLC method is used to analyze kava pyrones in Piper methysticum preparations.

Computerized optimization of the high-performance liquid chromatographic enantioseparation of a mixture of 4-dinitrophenyl amino acids on a quinine carbamate-type chiral stationary phase using DRYLAB

A method is proposed for the sensitive chiral analysis of amino acid enantiomers by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Thus the enantiomers of a mixture of seven racemic amino acids were resolved as their DNP derivatives from each other and from the peak of the hydrolyzed reagent, employing a quinine carbamate-based chiral anion exchange-type chiral stationary phase (CSP) and aqueous buffered mobile phases. However, the initial isocratic chromatogram yielded many peak overlaps although the corresponding enantiomers were well resolved. Therefore, the separation of the complex mixture had to be optimized; we utilized the commercial computer method development software DRYLAB. First, the influence of the manifold mobile phase parameters and chromatographic conditions (pH, type and content of organic modifier, buffer concentration, temperature, type of co-ion, etc.) on retention and resolution was studied by isocratic elution. Furthermore, with such optimized conditions linear and multi-segmented organic modifier and buffer salt gradients, respectively, were simulated with the computer program and experimentally verified. Average errors of prediction of retention times lay between 2 and 8%. Finally, a highly improved HPLC gradient method resulted in almost all components being baseline separated and equally spaced and accelerated by a factor of more than 3 compared to the initial run.

Exploring better column selectivity choices in ultra-high performance liquid chromatography using Quality by Design principles

An older method for amlodipine was reworked with the goal to reduce the analysis time of 60min below 6min. To select the best column for short and robust analysis, 9 different UHPLC column chemistries were investigated using 3-dimensional resolution spaces based on 12 experiments using modelling software. The main variables used were gradient time (tG), temperature (T) and the pH of eluent A. The best critical resolution was calculated and located in a 3-dimensional space in an automated fashion and the corresponding best experiments were carried out. The work (9×12=108 runs) was finished with an UHPLC instrument in less than 24h. The comparison between predictions and real experiments showed an excellent correlation with differences typically less than 0.04min (<3s) in average, although the set points were located at quite different conditions on gradient times, pHs and temperatures for the individual columns. All columns could perform the required baseline separation at their individual best working points with satisfactory results.

Rapid separation of urinary acids by high-performance liquid chromatography

Over a hundred acidic urinary constituents were separated within 30 min by using 5-micron octadecyl-silica columns and gradient elution with increasing acetonitrile concentration in dilute aqueous phosphoric acid solution at 70 degrees. The column effluent was monitored with a UV detector at 280 nm or with a fluorescence detector at 260 nm excitation and 340 nm emission wavelengths. The high sensitivity and speed of analysis, the excellent reproducibility and adequate resolution obtained suggest that this technique may be useful to obtain metabolic profiles in routine clinical work.

Catecholamines and related compounds : Effect of substituents on retention in reversed-phase chromatography

Abstract The capacity factors of 32 compounds were measured on octadecyl-silica columns by using neat aqueous phosphate buffer, pH 2.1, as the eluent. The tabulated results allow the estimation of the effect of various substituents on the retention of catecholamines and related compounds under similar chromatographic conditions.

Separation of urinary aromatic acids and measurement of vanilmandelic acid by high-performance liquid chromatography

SummaryThe rapid separation of urinary aromatic acids by reversed-phase chromatography on 5-μm octadecyl-silica columns and with gradient elution is described. The use of a tandem UV- and fluorescence detector system is demonstrated. The technique can be employed either to obtain chromatographic profiles of over 100 components in less than 30 minutes, or for the quantitative determination of some of the clinically significant aromatic acids. The latter approach is illustrated by the measurement of vanilmandelic acid (VMA) in human urine.