Electrically driven microseparation methods for pesticides and metabolites: V. Micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography of aniline pesticidic metabolites derivatized with fluorescein isothiocyanate and their detection in real water at low levels by laser-induced fluorescence

Applications of micelle enhancement in luminescence-based analysis

Micelles are self-assembled aggregates that arrange themselves into spheres in aqueous media. When the surfactant concentration reaches the critical micelle concentration, extensive aggregation of the surfactant monomers occurs to form micelles. A micelle has both a hydrophilic and a hydrophobic part. This allows them to form a spherical shape and for their glycolipid and phospholipid components to form lipid bilayers. The importance of micelles is increasing because of their wide analytical applications. Recently, colloidal carrier systems have received much attention in the field of analytical chemistry, especially in luminescence enhancement applications.

Determination of aromatic amines in food products and composite food packaging bags by capillary electrophoresis coupled with transient isotachophoretic stacking

A capillary electrophoretic method was explored to assay aromatic amines in food samples. With an inline-coupled transient isotachophoretic stacking approach, the method has yielded about 200-fold improvement of sensitivity in UV detection of three primary aromatic amines and melamine. By using K(+) as a leading ion and Tris(+) as a terminating ion, a plug of 10 cm (equivalent to 0.44 microL) sample solution was allowed to introduce into a 60 cm (50 cm effective) capillary for separation, giving limits of detection down to 2.0 x 10(-8)M. Baseline separation was achieved within 10 min, with relative standard deviation of 0.41-0.75% (intra-day) or 1.2-1.5% (inter-day) for migration time and 3.8-4.3% (intra-day) or 5.2-6.7% (inter-day) for peak area. The method was directly applicable to assaying the melamine in powder milk samples, with recovery in between 92.0% and 107.1%. The method could also be applied to the analysis of trace primary aromatic amines migrating from composite food packaging bags after combination of a 10-fold off-line concentration step, with limit of detection down to less than 1 microg/L. By this method, 4,4'-diaminophenylmethane and 2,4-diaminotoluene were thus found in three types of composite food packaging bags.

Capillary electrophoresis with laser-induced fluorescence: environmental applications

Capillary electrophoresis (CE), especially free-zone CE, offers a relatively simple separation with moderate selectivity based on the mobility of ions in solution. Laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) detection, an extremely sensitive technique, can be coupled with a variety of separation conditions to achieve sensitive and quantitative results. When these techniques are combined, CE/LIF provides the sensitivity and increased selectivity that makes trace level environmental analysis of fluorescent compounds possible at or below levels typical for gas chromatography (GC)/mass spectrometry (MS). We offer a panoramic review of the role of these tools in solving environmental and related analytical problems before providing a detailed experimental protocol.

Environmental analysis based on luminescence in organized supramolecular systems

The use of organized supramolecular systems-including micellar media and cyclodextrin inclusion complexes-combined with luminescence techniques in the study and determination of compounds and elements of environmental interest from 1990 to 2005 is reviewed. Analyses of environmental samples performed using fluorescence, photochemically induced fluorescence and phosphorescence spectroscopy as well as liquid chromatography, capillary electrophoresis and flow injection with luminescence detection in the presence of these organized media are described in detail.

Rapid and sensitive determination of phosphorus-containing amino acid herbicides in soil samples by capillary zone electrophoresis with diode laser-induced fluorescence detection

A straightforward and sensitive method has been developed for the analysis of phosphorus-containing amino acid herbicides (glufosinate and aminomethylphosphonic acid, the major metabolite of glyphosate) in soil samples. For this purpose, the analytical features of two indocyanine fluorescent dyes, sulfoindocyanine succinimidyl ester (Cy5) and 1-ethyl-1-[5-(N-succinimidyl-oxycarbonyl)pentyl]-3,3,3,3-tetramethyl-indodicarbocyanine chloride, as labeling reagents for the determination of these herbicides by CZE with diode LIF detection were investigated. Practical aspects related to the labeling chemistry and CZE separation showed that the two probes behave similarly, Cy5 being the best choice for the determination of these herbicides on account of its higher sensitivity. The optimum procedure includes a derivatization step of the pesticides at 25 degrees C for 30 min and direct injection to CZE analysis, which is conducted within about 14 min using ACN in the running buffer. The lowest detectable analyte concentration ranged from 0.025 to 0.18 microg/L with a precision of 3.6-5.4%. These results indicate that indocyanine fluorescence dyes are useful as rapid and sensitive labels for the determination of these herbicides when compared with typical fluorescein dyes such as FITC and 5-(4,6-dichloro-s-triazin-2-ylamino) fluorescein, because they provide faster labeling reactions even at room temperature and the excess of reagent practically does not interfere the determination. Finally, the Cy5 method was successfully applied to soil samples without a preliminary clean-up procedure, and the herbicides were measured without any interference from coexisting substances. The recoveries of these compounds in these samples at fortification levels of 100-500 ng/g were 90-93%.

Rapid determination of aniline metabolites of chlorpropham in potatoes by micellar electrokinetic chromatography using negative-charged mixed micelles and laser-induced fluorescence detection

A rapid, reliable method has been developed for the multi-residue analysis of aniline metabolites of chlorpropham in potato samples. The method involves the precolumn derivatization of aniline metabolites with 5-(4,6-dichloro-s-triazin-2-ylamino) fluorescein (DTAF) and their subsequent separation and determination by micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography with laser-induced fluorescence detection (MEKC-LIF). The optimum procedure includes a derivatization step of the aniline metabolites (3-chloroaniline, 3-chloro-4-hydroxyaniline and 3-chloro-4-methoxyaniline) at 40 degrees C for 40 min and a 5-fold dilution prior to MEKC analysis, which is conducted within about 7 min using negative-charged mixed micelles (SDS/Triton X-100) in the running buffer. Under these conditions, the DTAF-anilines were readily detected at 0.3-3.1 microg/L level with a precision of 4.8-6.4%. These results indicate that negative-charged mixed surfactant MEKC-LIF is useful as a selective, rapid, and sensitive tool for the determination of these anilines and surpasses other electrophoretic alternatives based on the use of fluorescein-isothiocyanate (FITC) as label reagent. Finally, the potato matrix showed no significant effects on the derivatization and determination of these analytes, since the analytical figures of merit for the real samples were similar to those obtained in aqueous solutions, and the average recovery at fortification levels of 10-250 microg/kg was over 97%.

Potential determination of aminated pesticides and metabolites by cyclodextrin capillary electrophoresis-laser-induced fluorescence using FITC as labelling

We describe a detailed study on the possibility of analyzing aminated pesticides and metabolites using pre-column derivatization with fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) and their subsequent separation and detection by cyclodextrin capillary electrophoresis-laser-induced fluorescence (CE-LIF) detection. Different variables affecting the derivatization reaction (pH, FITC concentration, reaction time and temperature) and those related with the separation itself (buffer concentration, addition of various organic modifiers, pH, applied voltage and injection time) were studied. The limit of detection obtained was between 0.45 and 3.48 microg litre(-1) showing a relative standard deviation between 0.26 and 2.08% at a concentration level of 50 microg litre(-1).

Pesticide analysis by capillary electrophoresis

In this work, a critical and updated revision of the current situation of the analysis of pesticides by Capillary Electrophoresis (CE) is presented. The review has been written in two main sections. The first one presents a thorough revision of the various offline and on-line sample preconcentration procedures that have been used in conjunction with CE to analyze these compounds. The second part reviews the various detection strategies (i.e., UV, LIF, MS, and electrochemical) and CE modes that have been applied to the analysis of pesticides. Future trends that can be expected from this hot research area are also discussed.