Simultaneous enantioseparation and sensitive detection of eight beta-blockers using capillary electrochromatography-electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry

A chiral magnetic molybdenum disulfide nanocomposite for direct enantioseparation of RS-propranolol

We herein report a novel chiral magnetic molybdenum disulfide nanocomposite (MMoS₂/PNG-CD) with a high enantioselectivity and excellent thermosensitivity and magnetism. The prepared MMoS₂/PNG-CD shows temperature-dependent chiral discrimination and enantioselectivity toward a chiral drug RS-propranolol (RS-PPL), which is based on the molecular recognition ability of beta-cyclodextrin (β-CD) and the thermosensitivity of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM). The synthesized MMoS₂/PNG2-CD by using a monomer molar ratio of GMA to NIPAM of 2 : 1 demonstrates a high selectivity toward R-PPL over S-PPL due to the synergistic effect of the PNIPAM moieties and β-CD hosts. The thermo-induced volume phase transition (VPT) of the introduced PNIPAM moieties significantly affects the inclusion constants of the β-CD/R-PPL complex, and thus the loading and desorption of R-PPL on the MMoS₂/PNG2-CD. The enantioselectivity at temperatures below the lower critical solution temperature (LCST) of the PNG-β-CD grafting chains is much higher than that at temperatures above the LCST. As a result, the regeneration of the MMoS₂/PNG2-CD is easily achieved via simply changing the operating temperature. Moreover, the regenerated MMoS₂/PNG2-CD can be readily recovered from the RS-PPL solution under an external magnetic field for reuse. Such a multifunctional molybdenum disulfide nanocomposite with a high enantioselectivity and excellent thermosensitivity and regenerability is promising to serve as a high-performance nanoselector for direct resolution of various β-blocker drugs.

Open Tubular Capillary Electrochromatography-Mass Spectrometry for Analysis of Underivatized Amino Acid Enantiomers with a Porous Layer-Gold Nanoparticle-Modified Chiral Column

By developing a novel chiral column, we integrate open tubular capillary electrochromatography into sheathless mass spectrometry (MS) for efficient analysis of underivatized amino acid enantiomers. The chiral column is easily fabricated by modifying the inner surface of a capillary with a three-dimensional porous layer (PL, thickness ∼ 90 nm, pore size ∼ 30 nm) and gold nanoparticles and by introducing a chiral selector, thiol β-cyclodextrin (SH-β-CD), onto the modified surface via Au-S bonds. This approach greatly enhances the specific surface area and thus the ratio of the stationary phase to mobile phase and interaction between the stationary phase and analytes. The proposed PLOT@Au@CD column is coupled to the sheathless CE-ESI-MS system for chiral analysis of amino acid enantiomers. No derivatization of amino acids is required for chiral analysis, and baseline separation of a total of 15 pairs of amino acid enantiomers is achieved within 17 min with high column efficiencies of 5.60 × 10⁴ to 1.82 × 10⁶ N/m, high resolutions of 1.51-10.0, and low limits of detection between 0.02 and 0.09 μg/mL. The separation efficiency and MS intensity are only slightly decreased over 60 runs or after usage for 15 days, showing excellent repeatability and stability of the PLOT@Au@CD column. The proposed method is successfully applied to the determination of amino acid enantiomers in vinegar samples with satisfactory accuracy. Our study provides a new approach for developing a chiral stationary phase in the chromatographic separation technique, which can be easily coupled to sensitive MS detection, thus it would be of value for various applications in the fields of chiral analysis.

Past, present, and future developments in enantioselective analysis using capillary electromigration techniques

Enantioseparation of chiral products has become increasingly important in a large diversity of academic and industrial applications. The separation of chiral compounds is inherently challenging and thus requires a suitable analytical technique that can achieve high resolution and sensitivity. In this context, CE has shown remarkable results so far. Chiral CE offers an orthogonal enantioselectivity and is typically considered less costly than chromatographic techniques, since only minute amounts of chiral selectors are needed. Several CE approaches have been developed for chiral analysis, including chiral EKC and chiral CEC. Enantioseparations by EKC benefit from the wide variety of possible pseudostationary phases that can be employed. Chiral CEC, on the other hand, combines chromatographic separation principles with the bulk fluid movement of CE, benefitting from reduced band broadening as compared to pressure-driven systems. Although UV detection is conventionally used for these approaches, MS can also be considered. CE-MS represents a promising alternative due to the increased sensitivity and selectivity, enabling the chiral analysis of complex samples. The potential contamination of the MS ion source in EKC-MS can be overcome using partial-filling and counter-migration techniques. However, chiral analysis using monolithic and open-tubular CEC-MS awaits additional method validation and a dedicated commercial interface. Further efforts in chiral CE are expected toward the improvement of existing techniques, the development of novel pseudostationary phases, and establishing the use of chiral ionic liquids, molecular imprinted polymers, and metal-organic frameworks. These developments will certainly foster the adoption of CE(-MS) as a well-established technique in routine chiral analysis.

Derivatization reagent-assisted enantioseparation of 3-hydroxyaspartate with two chiral centers in rat cerebrospinal fluid by capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry

A new analytical method based on capillary zone electrophoresis-mass spectrometry (CZE-MS) was proposed and validated for the simultaneous determination of four stereoisomers of 3-hydroxyaspartate with two chiral centers in rat cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in absence of optically pure single enantiomer standards. The derivatization reagent 9-fluorenylmethyl chloroformate (FMOC-Cl) was found to assist chiral separation and the derivatized enantiomers of 3-hydroxyaspartate can achieve enantioseparation with a lower concentration (6 mM) of β-cyclodextrin (β-CD), while underivatized 3-hydroxyaspartate cannot be separated. The enhanced interactions between derivatized analytes and β-CD were demonstrated by proton nuclear magnetic resonance (¹H NMR). The four stereoisomers of FMOC-3-hydroxyaspartate were identified successfully using a new method based on experimental and calculated electronic circular dichroism (ECD) spectra combined with the comparison of CE peak areas. Large volume sample stacking with polarity switching (LVSS-PS) was used to increase sensitivity and the detection limit of 356 nM was achieved for L-THA, which was around 10-fold improvement compared to the normal CE-MS analysis. The composition of the background electrolyte (BGE) was optimized by response surface methodology (RSM). Under the optimal conditions, satisfactory results of L-THA were obtained in terms of linearity over the range of 2-80 μM (R² > 0.99) and precision (RSD below 1.43% and 2.56% for migration time and peak area, respectively). The recoveries for all four stereoisomers in spiked rat CSF ranged from 91.2% to 99.5%. The method has been successfully applied to rat CSF analysis and D-erythro-3-hydroxyaspartate (D-EHA) was detected.

High Throughput Analysis of Chiral Compounds Using Capillary Electrochromatography (CEC) and CEC-Mass Spectrometry with Cellulose Based Stationary Phases

To fulfill the ever growing demand for rapid chiral analysis, this research presents an approach for highthroughput enantiomeric separations and sensitive detection of model chiral analytes using capillary electrochromatography (CEC) with UV and MS detection. This was achieved utilizing a short 7 cm CEC columns packed with cellulose tris (3,5-dimethyl-phenylcarbamate) (CDMPC) or sulfonated cellulose tris (3,5-dimethylphenylcarbamate) (CDMPC-SO₃) chiral stationary phases (CSPs) applying outlet side injections in CEC-UV. The separation performance was compared between CDMPC and CDMPC-SO₃ CSPs for rapid enantio-separation in CEC-UV mode. In addition, using a high sensitivity UV-flow cell in combination with outlet side injections, the S/N and hence the limit of detection of chiral drug could be improved. The 7-cm packed column was also used with traditional inlet injections for CEC coupled to a low-cost single-quadrupole MS. While outlet side injection was not possible in CEC-MS due to instrumentation constraints, the combined use of a short 7 cm column packed with CDMPC-SO₃ CSP provided several fold higher throughput. Both CEC-UV and CEC-MS with short packed bed has the potential for a simple, sensitive and cost-effective method for enantiomeric drug profiling in biological samples.

Enantioselectivity of mass spectrometry: challenges and promises

With the fast growing market of pure enantiomer drugs and bioactive molecules, new chiral-selective analytical tools have been instigated including the use of mass spectrometry (MS). Even though MS is one of the best analytical tools that has efficiently been used in several pharmaceutical and biological applications, traditionally MS is considered as a "chiral-blind" technique. This limitation is due to the MS inability to differentiate between two enantiomers of a chiral molecule based merely on their masses. Several approaches have been explored to assess the potential role of MS in chiral analysis. The first approach depends on the use of MS-hyphenated techniques utilizing fast and sensitive chiral separation tools such as liquid chromatography (LC), gas chromatography (GC), and capillary electrophoresis (CE) coupled to MS detector. More recently, several alternative separation techniques have been evaluated such as supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) and capillary electrochromatography (CEC); the latter being a hybrid technique that combines the efficiency of CE with the selectivity of LC. The second approach is based on using the MS instrument solely for the chiral recognition. This method depends on the behavioral differences between enantiomers towards a foreign molecule and the ability of MS to monitor such differences. These behavioral differences can be divided into three types: (i) differences in the enantiomeric affinity for association with the chiral selector, (ii) differences of the enantiomeric exchange rate with a foreign reagent, and (iii) differences in the complex MS dissociation behaviors of the enantiomers. Most recently, ion mobility spectrometry was introduced to qualitatively and quantitatively evaluate chiral compounds. This article provides an overview of MS role in chiral analysis by discussing MS based methodologies and presenting the challenges and promises associated with each approach.

Development of a chiral micellar electrokinetic chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry assay for simultaneous analysis of warfarin and hydroxywarfarin metabolites: application to the analysis of patients serum samples

The enantioseparation of warfarin (WAR) along with the five positional and optical isomers is challenging because of the difficulty to simultaneously separate and quantitate these chiral compounds. Currently, no effective chiral CE-MS methods exist for the simultaneous enantioseparation of WAR and all its hydroxylated metabolites in a single run. Polymeric surfactants (aka. molecular micelles) are particularly compatible with micellar electrokinetic chromatography-mass spectrometry (MEKC-MS) because they have a wider elution window for enantioseparation and do not interfere with the MS detection of chiral drugs. Using polysodium N-undecenoyl-L,L-leucylvalinate (poly-L,L-SULV) as a chiral pseudophase in MEKC-MS baseline separation of WAR, its five metabolites along with the internal standard was obtained in 45 min. This is in comparison to 100 min required for separation of the same mixture with packed column CEC-MS using a vancomycin chiral stationary phase. Serum samples were extracted with mixed-mode anion-exchange (MAX) cartridge with recoveries of greater than 85.2% for all WAR and hydroxywarfarin (OH-WAR) metabolites. Utilizing the tandem MS and multiple reaction monitoring mode, the MEKC-MS/MS method was used to simultaneously generate calibration curves over a concentration range from 2 to 5000 ng/mL for R- and S-warfarin, 5 to 1000 ng/mL for R- and S-6-, 7-, 8- and 10-OH-WAR and 10 to 1000 ng/mL for R and S-4'-OH-WAR. For the first time, the limits of detection and quantitation for most WAR metabolites by MEKC-MS/MS were found to be at levels of 2 and 5 ng/mL, respectively. The method was successfully applied for the first time to analyze WAR and its metabolites in plasma samples of 55 patients undergoing WAR therapy, demonstrating the potential of chiral MEKC-MS/MS method to accurately quantitate with high sensitivity.

Development of a fritless packed column for capillary electrochromatography-mass spectrometry

A novel procedure was developed for the fabrication of a fritless packed column for the coupling of capillary electrochromatography (CEC) to mass spectrometry (MS). The process involved the formation of internal tapers on two separate columns. Once the internal tapers are formed and the columns are packed, the untapered ends of each column were joined together by a commercially available connector. Several advantages of the fritless columns are described. First, the design used here eventually eliminates the need for any frits thus reducing the possibility of bubble formation seen with fritted packed columns. In addition, this is the first report in which the internal tapers are formed at both the inlet and outlet column ends making the fritless CEC-MS column more robust compared to only one report with externally tapered counterparts. Second, a comparison of internally tapered single frit packed CEC-MS (previously developed in our laboratory) column versus fritless CEC-MS column reported here shows that the latter provides better efficiency, suggesting no dead volume with equally good sensitivity and chiral resolution of (±)-aminoglutethimide. The fritless column procedure is universal and was used to prepare a series of columns with a variety of commercially available packing material (mixed mode strong cation exchange, SCX; mixed mode strong anion exchange, SAX; C-18) for the separation and MS detection of short chain non-chromophoric polar amines, long chain nonchromophic anionic surfactant as well as oligomers of non-chromophoric non-ionic surfactants, respectively. The fritless columns showed good intra-day repeatability and inter-day reproducibility of retention times, chiral and achiral resolutions and peak areas. Very satisfactory column-to-column and operator-to-operator reproducibility was demonstrated.

Enantioselective capillary electrochromatography: recent developments and new trends

Since its development in the early 1970s, CEC has been studied quite extensively, but unfortunately its use is still mostly located at an academic level. Reasons for this are the limited availability of commercially available stationary phases (SPs) and columns, along with some practical limitations, such as column fragility, lack of column robustness and reproducibility. Nevertheless, CEC maintains a place among the separation techniques, probably because of its unique feature to combine two separation principles. Also in the field of chiral separations, CEC is often used as a separation technique and already showed its potential for this kind of analyses. This overview will focus on the recent applications, i.e. between 2006 and 2010, in enantioselective analysis by means of CEC. For the selected applications, the used SPs (chiral selectors) and their potential for future method development or screening purposes will be evaluated and critically discussed.

Advances in the enantioseparation of β-blocker drugs by capillary electromigration techniques

β-Blocker drugs or β-adrenergic blocking agents are an important class of drugs, prescribed with great frequency. They are used for various diseases, particularly for the treatment of cardiac arrhythmias, cardioprotection after myocardial infarction (heart attack), and hypertension. Almost all β-blocker drugs possess one or more stereogenic centers; however; only some of them are administered as single enantiomers. Since both enantiomers can differ in their pharmacological and toxicological properties, enantioselective analytical methods are required not only for pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic studies but also for quality control of pharmaceutical preparations with the determination of enantiomeric purity. In addition to the chromatographic tools, in recent years, capillary electromigration techniques (CE, CEC, and MEKC) have been widely used for enantioselective purposes employing a variety of chiral selectors, e.g. CDs, polysaccharides, macrocyclic antibiotics, proteins, chiral ion-paring agents, etc. The high separation efficiency, rapid analysi,s and low consumption of reagents of electromigration methods make them a very attractive alternative to the conventional chromatographic methods. In this review, the development and applications of electrodriven methods for the enantioseparation of β-blocker drugs are reported. The papers concerning this topic, published from January 2000 until December 2010, are summarised here. Particular attention is given to the coupling of chiral CE and CEC methods to MS, as this detector provides high sensitivity and selectivity.

Chiral CE-MS

This review article addresses the developments and applications of capillary electromigration methods coupled on-line with MS for chiral analysis. The multiple enantiomeric applications of this hyphenated technology are covered including chiral analysis of drugs, food compounds, pesticides, natural metabolites, etc. in different matrices such as plasma, urine, medicines, foods, etc. This work intends to provide an updated overview (including works published till September 2009) on the principal chiral applications carried out by CZE-MS, CEC-MS and MEKC-MS, discussing their main advantages and drawbacks in all their different areas of application as well as their foreseeable development in the not too distant future.

[Recent advances in capillary electrochromatography and its coupling techniques]

As a novel micro-separation technique, capillary electrochromatography (CEC) has the merits of high efficiency, high selectivity, high resolution and rapid analysis. However, the small-volume injection manipulated in capillary dimensions poses a great challenge for detectors in achieving high sensitivity. Currently, one of the major researches into CEC involves the development of some sensitive detection modes. The general introduction, which includes the historical perspectives and the principles of CEC, is briefly described. The recent advances about CEC coupled with various detectors and its applications in the separation of complex samples are summarized. A total of 141 references are reviewed.

Advanced CE for chiral analysis of drugs, metabolites, and biomarkers in biological samples

An analysis of recent trends indicates that CE can show real advantages over chromatographic methods in ultratrace enantioselective determination of biologically active compounds in complex biological matrices. It is due to high separation efficiency and many applicable in-capillary electromigration effects in CE (countercurrent migration, stacking effects) enhancing significantly (enantio)separability and enabling effective sample preparation (preconcentration, purification, analyte derivatization). Other possible on-line combinations of CE, such as column coupled CE-CE techniques and implementation of nonelectrophoretic techniques (extraction, membrane filtration, flow injection) into CE, offer additional approaches for highly effective sample preparation and separation. CE matured to a highly flexible and compatible technique enabling its hyphenation with powerful detection systems allowing extremely sensitive detection (e.g. LIF) and/or structural characterization of analytes (e.g. MS). Within the last decade, more as well as less conventional analytical on-line approaches have been effectively utilized in this field and their practical potentialities are demonstrated on many new application examples in this article. Here, three basic areas of (enantioselective) drug bioanalysis are highlighted and supported by a brief theoretical description of each individual approach in a compact review structure (to create integrated view on the topic), including (i) progressive enantioseparation approaches and new enantioselective agents, (ii) in-capillary sample preparation (preconcentration, purification, derivatization), and (iii) detection possibilities related to enhanced sensitivity and structural characterization.

Optimized separation of beta-blockers with multiple chiral centers using capillary electrochromatography-mass spectrometry

This work focuses on the simultaneous analysis of beta-blockers with multiple stereogenic centers using capillary electrochromatography-mass spectrometry (CEC-MS) with a vancomycin stationary phase. The critical mobile phase variables (composition of organic solvents, acid/base ratios) as well as column temperature and electric field strength, effecting enantioresolution and analysis time were first optimized sequentially. Next, to achieve global optimum a multivariate D-optimal design was used. Although multivariate approach did not improve enantioresolution any further, analysis time was significantly reduced. Under optimum CEC-MS conditions, all stereoisomers were resolved with resolution in the range 1.0-3.1 in less than 60 min with an average signal-to-noise (S/N) greater than 1000. The developed CEC-MS method has the potential to emerge as a screening method for analysis of multiple chiral compounds using a single protocol using the same column and mobile phase conditions, thus reducing the operation time and cost.

Preparation and evaluation of a vancomycin-immobilized silica monolith as chiral stationary phase for CEC

Enantiomeric separations in CEC with the macrocyclic antibiotic vancomycin immobilized silica monolith as a chiral stationary phase are presented. The monolithic silica capillary columns were prepared by a sol-gel process in fused-silica capillaries with an inner diameter of 50 mum and subsequently in situ immobilization of vancomycin as a chiral selector by reductive amination. Enantioselectivity was obtained for eight pairs of enantiomers in nonaqueous polar organic or aqueous mobile phases and most of them were baseline-separated with high column efficiencies. It was observed that the organic modifier ratio (MeOH/ACN) in the polar organic mobile phase played a significant role in controlling the resolution and efficiency of the enantiomers. In enantiomeric separation of propranolol, repeatability for column efficiency and resolution in the nonaqueous mobile phase was given in terms of RSD values at 1.1 and 2.3% (n = 5) for run-to-run injections and 7.2 and 9.6% (n = 5) for column-to-column testing while repeatability for the separation of thalidomide in the aqueous mobile phase was given in terms of RSD values at 1.5, 2.8% and 6.1, 10.5%, respectively.

Recent accomplishments in the field of enantiomer separation by CEC

The present review intends to summarize recent developments in the field of enantioselective separations and analysis by CEC. It covers studies published in English language in common peer-reviewed journals within the period between 2003 and 2006. Both, methods making use of chiral mobile phase additives as well as chiral stationary phases for electrochromatographic enantiomer separations, are reviewed. Achievements that have been made on the various column technologies, such as open-tubular, particle-packed, inorganic, organic and particle-fixed (hybrid-type) monolithic as well as molecularly imprinted polymer phases, are discussed.

Use of a fritless dual tapered column and a low flow interface for capillary electrochromatography–mass spectrometry

To avoid problems associated with the use of sintered frits to retain packing material, tapered columns were investigated for use with capillary electrochromatography-mass spectrometry (CEC-MS) analysis. Taking the advantage that negatively charged stationary phase particles have a net velocity directed towards the buffer reservoir (inlet) over a wide range in pH, a fritless CEC column with a single taper tip was prepared for CEC-MS analysis. During CEC-MS analysis, the tapered end was immersed in the buffer reservoir and the unmodified end was pointed toward the ionization source. For better sensitivity, this single tapered CEC column was coupled to ESI/MS using a low flow sheath liquid interface. With this setup, occasional blockage of the ESI sprayer by stationary phase particles was observed. In addition, significant dead volume was observed because the unmodified tip could not be inserted into the very end of the sprayer of the low flow sheath liquid interface. To circumvent these problems, a dual tapered CEC column was prepared. This fritless dual tapered column CEC-MS approach alleviated the problems of frit, sprayer blockage and extensive dead volume.