Raphaël Delépée

Capillary electrophoresis procedure for the simultaneous analysis and stoichiometry determination of a drug and its counter-ion by using dual-opposite end injection and contactless conductivity detection: Application to labetalol hydrochloride

In this work, a capillary electrophoresis (CE) procedure was developed for the simultaneous determination of a pharmaceutical drug and its counter-ion, namely labetalol hydrochloride. For this purpose, an uncoated fused-silica capillary, a low conductivity background electrolyte (BGE) and a capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detector (C(4)D) were employed. This detection system is highly sensitive and enables detection of inorganic as well as organic ions unlike with direct UV detection. Moreover, to be able to simultaneously analyze the cationic drug (labetalol(+)) and its anionic counter-ion (Cl(-)) in the same electrophoretic run without the need of a coated capillary, a dual-opposite end injection was performed. In this technique, the sample is hydrodynamically injected into both ends of the capillary. This method is simple and easy to perform since the different injection steps are automated by the CE software. This novel CE-C(4)D procedure with dual-opposite end injection has been successfully validated and applied for the analysis of chloride content in an adrenergic antagonist (labetalol hydrochloride). Thus, the hereby developed method has been shown to enable fast (analysis time<10 min), precise (repeatability of migration times<0.7% and of corrected-peak areas < 3.3%; n=6) and rugged analyses for the simultaneous determination of a pharmaceutical drug and its counter-ion.

Molecularly imprinted polymer of 5-methyluridine for solid-phase extraction of pyrimidine nucleoside cancer markers in urine.

Normal and modified urinary nucleosides represent potential biomarkers for cancer diagnosis. To selectively extract modified nucleosides, we developed a molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) of 5-methyluridine as selective material for molecularly imprinted solid-phase extraction (MISPE). The MIPs were obtained from vinyl-phenylboronate ester derivative of the template, acrylamide and pentaerythritol triacrylate co-polymer, and were tested in batch and cartridge experiments with aqueous samples. Our results indicated that the imprinted polymer was selective for pyrimidine nucleosides with a K(d) and a B(max) of 46 microM and 18 micromol/g, respectively. Finally, a MISPE of the most common pyrimidine nucleoside cancer markers in urine sample was realized.

Sensitivity improvement by using contactless conductivity rather than indirect UV detection for the determination of enantiomeric purity of amines by CE

A capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detection (C4D) system for CE with a flexible detection cell was applied for the enantioseparation of small chiral underivatized amines using chiral crown ether or CD as chiral selector. Since these compounds are poorly UV‐active, C4D was an alternative detection mode. The composition (ionic strength, pH, chiral selector) of the electrolyte was optimized in order to be suitable for C4D. (−)‐(18‐crown‐6)‐2,3,11,12‐tetracarboxylic acid was required as chiral selector to resolve the enantiomers of small polar amines. However, trimethyl‐β‐CD was suitable to separate amines possessing hydrophobic carbon chains. The performance of C4D was compared with indirect UV detection in terms of sensitivity, repeatability and accuracy. The linearity range of C4D was very large (1.5–1600 μg/mL) compared with the indirect UV linearity range (25–400 μg/mL) and allowed the determination of the enantiomeric purity of isopinocampheylamine up to 0.25%. The CE–C4D method has been fully validated by applying a novel strategy using accuracy profiles. All relative biases of the developed method were included within the ±15% limits of acceptance. C4D is a good alternative to indirect UV detection for the enantioseparation of non‐UV absorbing amines since the method development is fast and easy and, the sensitivity is improved by a factor of 100 compared with that of the indirect UV mode.

Comparison of water, sediment, and plants for the monitoring of antibiotics: A case study on a river dedicated to fish farming

Oxolinic acid, flumequine, oxytetracycline, and florfenicol are antibiotics commonly used in farming. Because an important percentage of these antibiotics given to fish and cattle ends up, directly or indirectly, in the freshwater environment, suitable tools for the monitoring of these antibiotics are needed. A French river was chosen because of the location of four fish farms and a sewage plant on its main course. First, a passive monitoring program involving water, sediment, and autochthonous bryophytes was performed at 25 sampling sites tested once every three months for one year. Second, an active monitoring method was performed using moss bags for a one-month exposure period, both upstream and downstream of each potential source of antibiotics. Sediment and bryophyte samples, but not water samples, were found to be useful for monitoring environmental contamination by oxolinic acid, flumequine, oxytetracycline, and florfenicol. Sediments and bryophytes also appeared to be complementary media for dating the rivers contamination by antibiotics. Data collected by both active and passive monitoring methods confirmed contamination of the river, mainly by flumequine and oxytetracycline, attributable to fish farming but also to terrestrial animal farming and perhaps human pharmaceuticals.

Simultaneous enantioselective determination of fenamiphos and its two metabolites in soil sample by CE.

The enantioseparation of fenamiphos and its two main metabolites (fenamiphos sulfoxide and fenamiphos sulfone) were simultaneously achieved by CE by using a dual CD system. A mixture of 25 mM carboxymethyl‐β‐CD and 10 mM hydroxypropyl‐α‐CD was added to the acetic acid/ammonia (ionic strength=50 mM, pH 5) buffer and was suitable for the baseline resolution of all stereoisomers of analytes. A further addition of 5% methanol to the BGE increased significantly the resolution between the diastereoisomers of fenamiphos sulfoxide. An overimposed pressure (0.2 psi) was applied during the analysis in order to have better peak efficiencies and small run time. The composition of the sample solvent was found to be a crucial parameter. An amount of 15% MeOH added to the sample was a good alternative to ensure the total solubility of fenamiphos and the baseline separation of fenamiphos sulfoxide enantiomers. The extraction of pesticides from soil samples was also investigated. A methanolic extraction allowed recovering 50–75% of pesticides, which were detected by CE at the parts per million concentration level (3–100 mg/kg) with a good precision (5.1–13.2% RSD). This method was applied to soil samples and was found to be suitable to monitor the enantiomeric degradation of fenamiphos in environmental samples.

Chiral analysis of milnacipran by a nonchiral HPLC – circular dichroism: Improvement of the linearity of dichroic response by temperature control

The determination of the enantiomeric excess (e.e.) of a basic drug has been investigated in LC using a nonchiral stationary phase and a circular dichroism (CD) detector in order to avoid expensive chiral columns. The CD detector records both dichroic (Deltaepsilon) and UV (epsilon) signals at the same wavelength and calculates the anisotropy factor (g=Deltaepsilon/epsilon), which is linearly related to the e.e. The enantiomeric and chemical composition of a chiral drug can be simultaneously determined on a nonchiral HPLC support. However, the g factor from the CD signal is temperature dependent. Indeed, the temperature has an influence on the stability of the CD signal and the linear regression between g factor and the e.e. of 1R,2S-enantiomer. So, a decrease in temperature gives rise to an improvement of the above-mentioned linearity correlation. After optimization of chromatographic parameters (porous graphitic carbon-based column, methanol/ phosphate buffer as mobile phase) and selection of CD wavelength, a linear regression of g factor versus e.e. of 1R,2S-enantiomer was obtained at temperature-controlled CD detection and an LOQ of 94% was found. The enantiomeric composition of milnacipran was determined with good accuracy.

Interest of a chemometric approach in understanding the retention behaviour of three columns in hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography: Application to the separation of glycerol carbonate, glycerol and urea

A chemometric approach was used to study the retention behaviour of glycerol, urea and glycerol carbonate in hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC). First, a simplex method was developed to optimize the sensitivity of an evaporative light scattering detector. A mixture design was then applied to model retention factors as a function of the mobile phase content in acetonitrile, water and methanol on three columns: Atlantis HILIC Silica, ZIC-HILIC and Monochrom diol. Atlantis HILIC Silica exhibits predominantly hydrophobic interactions, while retention on the other two columns is mainly ruled by hydrophilic interactions. Finally, a desirability function is applied on the resolution factors. The use of this function enables the compositions of eluent phases to be determined in order to achieve separation between the three chemicals. Monochrom diol proved to be the most efficient column.

Mass Spectrometry Based Methods for Analysis of Nucleosides as Antiviral Drugs and Potential Tumor Biomarkers

The intracellular analysis of the phosphorylated metabolites of some anti-HIV nucleosides by liquid chromatography or capillary electrophoresis coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS or CE-MS/MS) has been realized on human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC), with limit of quantitation (LOQ) that allow them to be quantitated intracellularly. We described also the analysis of modified urinary nucleosides as potential tumor biomarkers.

Simultaneous determination of optical and chemical purities of a drug with two chiral centers by liquid chromatography-circular dichroism detection on a non-chiral stationary phase.

The need for a rapid and cheap chromatographic technique for the simultaneous determination of diastereoisomeric and chemical purities of a drug has led to develop a non-enantioselective HPLC method on a porous graphitic carbon (PGC) sorbent and by using circular dichroism (CD) detection. Among a lot of non-chiral chromatographic supports tested, PGC was the only one allowing the separation of all benzoxathiepin diastereoisomers. After optimization of the chromatographic conditions, a mobile phase composed of chloroform, acetonitrile and methanol was suitable to elute the diastereoisomers with their related chemical impurities in less than 20 min by gradient mode. CD detection was found to be compatible with elution gradient and both the UV, CD and g anisotropy factor signals were recorded without disturbance. The determination of chemical purity was achieved with UV detection (254 nm) whereas the diastereoisomeric purity was determined using CD detection (258 nm) by plotting the anisotropy factors (R,S-S,R and R,R-S,S) versus the enantiomeric excess of each couple of enantiomers. A mathematic model was developed in order to express the diastereoisomeric excess versus the enantiomeric excess of each couple of enantiomers. Hence, the HPLC-UV/CD method was convenient to give access simultaneously to the optical and chemical purities of a chiral drug.

Synthesis of water-compatible imprinted polymers of in situ produced fructosazine and 2,5-deoxyfructosazine

Fructosazine and 2,5-deoxyfructosazine are two natural chemicals with various applications as flavoring agents in food and tobacco industry; the 2,5-deoxyfructosazine has also anti-diabetic and anti-inflammatory activities. In order to quantify these compounds in natural samples such as plant or food, we have developed a selective technique based on a water-compatible molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP). MIPs are prepared with a covalent approach from 2,5-deoxyfructosazine as template formed in situ by the self-condensation of glucosamine with vinylphenyl boronic acid, taken as catalyst and covalent monomer during the pre-complexation step. Acrylamide and polyethylene glycol diacrylate are used as supplementary non-covalent functional monomer and cross-linker, respectively. For the first time, a highly cross-linked but highly polar imprinted polymer of fructosazine and deoxyfructosazine is obtained as a solid material and not a gel. Amount of monomers is optimized to obtain high selectivity for both molecules. Results show that the MIPs prepared have a significant imprinting effect with a resulting imprinting factor of 3 for both templates. Molecularly imprinted solid-phase extraction is then performed and could be used in routine analysis to extract 2,5-deoxyfructosazine and fructosazine from soy sauce.