Use and practice of achiral and chiral supercritical fluid chromatography in pharmaceutical analysis and purification

Anabolic steroids in livestock production: Background and implications for chemical food safety

The use of steroids in livestock animals is a source of concern for consumers because of the risks associated with the presence of their residues in foodstuffs of animal origin. Technological advances such as mass spectrometry have made it possible to play a fundamental role in controlling such practices, firstly for the discovery of marker metabolites but also for the monitoring of these compounds under the regulatory framework. Current control strategies rely on the monitoring of either the parent drug or its metabolites in various matrices of interest. As some of these steroids also have an endogenous status specific strategies have to be applied for control purposes. This review aims to provide a comprehensive and up-to-date knowledge of analytical strategies, whether targeted or non-targeted, and whether they focus on markers of exposure or effect in the specific context of chemical food safety regarding the use of anabolic steroids in livestock. The role of new approaches in data acquisition (e.g. ion mobility), processing and analysis, (e.g. molecular networking), is also discussed.

Ordered mesoporous silica microspheres for supercritical fluid chromatography

Herein, silica microspheres with ordered mesopores are synthesized and applied as a stationary phase for supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC). The excellent particle monodispersity and pore orderliness coupled with the rapid analytes diffusion of the supercritical fluid lead to an ultra-high column efficiency of 340 000 plate per m.

Recent developments in the high-throughput separation of biologically active chiral compounds via high performance liquid chromatography

Bioactive compounds, including active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), are often chiral molecules where stereoisomers have different biological and therapeutic activity. Nevertheless, the preparation of these molecules can lead to racemic or scalemic mixtures (it is not trivial to produce just the optically pure compound). The evaluation of the enantiomeric purity of bioactive compounds, and therefore quality, is indeed of fundamental importance for regulatory scopes. Chiral high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) is the gold standard technique to separate and to purify enantiomers. This comes from the wide availability of commercial chiral stationary phases (CSPs) and operational modes, which makes the technique extremely versatile. In recent years, the most relevant trend in the field of chiral analytical HPLC has been the development of CSPs suitable for fast or even ultrafast separations, thus favoring the high throughput screening of biologically active chiral compounds. This process has somehow lagged behind compared to achiral HPLC, due to a series of practical and fundamental issues. The experience has shown how in chiral chromatography even very basic concepts, such as the supposed kinetic superiority of core-shell (pellicular) particles over fully porous ones to improve the chromatographic efficiency, cannot be taken for granted. In this review, the most relevant fundamental and practical features that must be taken into consideration to design successful high-throughput, fast enantioseparations will be discussed. Afterwards, the main classes of CSPs and the most relevant, recent (last five-year) high-throughput applications in the field of the separation of chiral bioactive compounds (for pharmaceutical, forensic, food, and omics applications) will be considered.

Application of Green Chiral Chromatography in Enantioseparation of Newly Synthesized Racemic Marinoepoxides

Enantioseparation of the newly synthesized series of novel quinoline-2(1H)-one epoxide structures rac-6a-c and rac-8a-c, named marinoepoxides, is described. Marinoepoxide rac-6a, the key intermediate in the total synthesis of natural products marinoaziridines A and B, as well as their structural analogues, was synthesized by addition of the achiral ylide generated in situ from the sulfonium salt 5 or 7, to the carbon-oxygen double bond of the corresponding quinoline-2(1H)-one-4-carbaldehyde 4a-c in good yield. Separation of enantiomers of (±)-2,3,3-trisubstituted marinoepoxides rac-6a-c and (±)-trans-2,3-disubstituted marinoepoxides rac-8a-c was studied using two immobilized polysaccharide type chiral stationary phases (CSPs); tris-(3,5-dichlorophenylcarbamoyl)cellulose stationary phase (CHIRAL ART Cellulose-SC) and tris-(3,5-dimethylphenylcarbamoyl)amylose stationary phase (CHIRAL ART Amylose-SA). Enantioseparation conditions were explored by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) using dimethyl carbonate/alcohol mixtures and n-hexane/ethanol (80/20, v/v) as mobile phase, and by supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) using CO₂/alcohol mixtures as mobile phase. In all examined racemates, enantioseparation was successfully achieved, but its efficiency largely depended on the structure of chiral selector and type/composition of the mobile phase.

Comparison of Supercritical Fluid Chromatography Hyphenated to an Ultraviolet Detector and Gas Chromatography Hyphenated to a Flame Ionization Detector for Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis of Citrus Essential Oils

A comparison between the classical gas chromatography (GC) technique with supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) technology was performed using an essential oil of Citrus limon (lemon) as a model, considering its wide use in the cosmetic world. For the qualitative part, the signal annotation was achieved by mass spectrometry using either an electron ionization (EI) or an atmospheric pressure photoionization (APPI) source. For the quantitative part, GC was hyphenated to a flame ionization detector (GC-FID) and SFC to an ultraviolet detector (SFC-UV). The assay of the major component of citrus oil, i.e., limonene, was carried out by SFC-UV. The similar results obtained between GC-FID and SFC-UV allows SFC-UV to be considered as an alternative to GC-FID for Citrus oil characterization. Then, analyses of an essential oil collection from Citrus fruits were achieved to confirm the potential use of SFC-UV for oil classification in the context of quality control of raw materials in cosmetics.

Chiral Pesticides with Asymmetric Sulfur: Extraction, Separation, and Determination in Different Environmental Matrices

Chiral pesticides with S atoms as asymmetric centers are gaining great importance in the search for new pesticides with new modes of action. As for the rest of the chiral pesticides, the determination of the stereoisomers separately has become crucial in the environmental risks assessment of these pesticides. Therefore, the development of suitable extraction and clean-up methods as well as efficient stereoselective analytical techniques for stereoisomers determination in environmental samples is essential. Currently, liquid/solid phase extraction, microextraction, and QuEChERS-based methods are most commonly used to obtain chiral pesticides from environmental samples. Gas, liquid, and supercritical fluid chromatography together with capillary electrophoresis techniques are the most important for the determination of the stereoisomers of chiral pesticides containing S atoms in its structure. In this study, all these techniques are briefly reviewed, and the advantages and disadvantages of each are discussed

29th Annual GP2A Medicinal Chemistry Conference

The 29th Annual GP₂A (Group for the Promotion of Pharmaceutical chemistry in Academia) Conference was a virtual event this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic and spanned three days from Wednesday 25 to Friday 27 August 2021. The meeting brought together an international delegation of researchers with interests in medicinal chemistry and interfacing disciplines. Abstracts of keynote lectures given by the 10 invited speakers, along with those of the 8 young researcher talks and the 50 flash presentation posters, are included in this report. Like previous editions, the conference was a real success, with high-level scientific discussions on cutting-edge advances in the fields of pharmaceutical chemistry.

Recent patents and a market overview on green or bio-based solvents for chromatographic analysis: a review

Green solvents (GS) in chromatography originate from green chemistry. Therefore, using GSs in liquid chromatographic analysis to separate drugs and chemicals is an emerging approach to reduce hazardous chemicals in nature. The Orbit Intelligence database was used to conduct a strategic patent search for peer-reviewed patents on GSs as a mobile phase for chromatographic analysis. This article reported numerous approaches for encouraging GSs such as ethanol, butanol, esters, polyethylene glycol, supercritical fluids and nonionic surfactants to analyze drugs or compounds. The main aim of this article is to explore the patented GSs for chromatographic analysis and forecasting of the GSs that encourage industries to shift from hazardous to GSs.

The effect of tandem coupling of NicoShell and TeicoShell columns in sub/supercritical fluid chromatography on enantioresolution

The coupling of columns in sub/supercritical fluid chromatography presents a great opportunity for influencing the separation efficiency and extending the selectivity of the separation system. Combinations of different types of chiral stationary phases could positively affect the enantioresolution if single ones are complementary to each other. In this work, two superficially porous particle (2.7 μm) macrocyclic glycopeptide-based columns, namely TeicoShell and NicoShell, were serially coupled and tested in sub/supercritical fluid chromatography for the first time. The influence of the column arrangement on the enantioseparation of structurally diverse biologically active compounds was examined. The obtained results showed how the column order crucially affected the enantioresolution of compounds tested, but the retention was negligibly affected in most cases. We also demonstrated that single TeicoShell and NicoShell columns are very promising towards the development of highly efficient and fast/ultrafast sub/supercritical fluid chromatography methods for structurally different chiral compounds. The optimized methods for sub-minute enantioselective separation of certain biologically important compounds were proposed.

Crystalline sponge X-ray analysis coupled with supercritical fluid chromatography: a novel analytical platform for the rapid separation, isolation, and characterization of analytes

Crystalline sponge (CS) based X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis allows for the observation of the structure of an analyte, including its absolute configuration. Herein we report a powerful analytical platform for the separation, isolation, and structural elucidation of a target analyte in a seamless way by coupling supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) with CS-based XRD analysis (SFC-CSXRD). The efficacy of this methodology is demonstrated by the rapid characterization of regio- and stereoisomers using three types of CSs with differing tolerances to the solvents used in SFC and guest-soaking.

Supercritical fluid chromatography and liquid chromatography for isomeric separation of a multiple chiral centers analyte

The development of a chiral separation strategy has always been a challenge of crucial importance, particularly in the pharmaceutical field. Chromatographic methods have become popular, particularly High Performance Liquid Chromatography and Supercritical Fluid Chromatography from a preparative scale point of view. A bioactive compound bearing three stereogenic centers was entrusted in our laboratory and the aim of this work was to obtain the complete resolution of the eight stereoisomers. Nine different polysaccharide-based columns were tested in SFC under various carbon dioxide-based mobile phases. The use of a single chiral column Lux Cellulose-2 under 30% 2-PrOH in carbon dioxide, at a flow-rate of 1 mL/min, column temperature of 40°C, 120 bar outlet pressure allowed the obtention of eight peaks. To further improve the resolution of the two last isomers, two columns were serially coupled . The results obtained with the six different combinations are discussed. The tandem column supercritical fluid chromatography has demonstrated to be a useful technique to resolve the eight stereoisomers on Lux Cellulose-2//Cellulose-2 tandem of coupled columns with 30% 2-PrOH in carbon dioxide, at a flow-rate of 1 mL/min, column temperature of 40°C and 120 bar outlet pressure, despite a long analysis time. In order to compare the two methods (i.e supercritical and liquid), chiral liquid chromatography under polar aqueous-organic mode, polar organic mode and normal-phase mode, was implemented. The last mode allowed the full baseline resolution of the eight isomers on Cellulose-5 CSP, with 20% 2-PrOH in n-heptane at a flow-rate of 0.8 mL/min, at 25°C, λ = 220 nm. The limits of detection and of quantification were determined for this method and the best values obtained for isomer 8 were equal to 2.84 and 9.37 nM respectively. Finally, a small-scale preparative separation of the multiple chiral centers compound was implemented on Cellulose-5 CSP within 10% 2-PrOH in n-heptane in order to study the stereoisomer elution order on Cellulose-2, Cellulose-5 and Chiralpak AD-H, under EtOH or 2-PrOH in n-heptane mobile phases, and partial reversal elution orders were observed.

Separation of N'-nitrosonornicotine isomers and enantiomers by supercritical fluid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry

N'-nitrosonornicotine (NNN) is one of the most prevalent and toxic tobacco-specific nitrosoamines. A chiral center at its 2'-position results in R and S enantiomers, the partial double bond character of the NN = O group also results in E and Z isomers, therefore, NNN can form a total of four absolute configurations (E-(R)-NNN, E-(S)-NNN, Z-(R)-NNN, and Z-(S)-NNN). This study investigated the resolution of R/S enantiomers and E/Z isomers of NNN by supercritical fluid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (SFC-MS/MS). The baseline separation of E/Z-(R,S)-NNN isomers/enantiomers was accomplished through the optimization of chiral columns and co-solvents. Due to the lack of single standard of E/Z isomers, only R-NNN (sum of E-(R)-NNN and Z-(R)-NNN) and S-NNN (sum of E-(S)-NNN and Z-(S)-NNN) were further examined. Through the comprehensive optimization of SFC-MS/MS conditions, R-NNN and S-NNN were separated with a run time of 5 min, the developed method was validated, and its applicability to the determination of NNN enantiomers in burley tobacco samples was demonstrated. This study could be applied to preparative separation of single enantiomer and/or isomer of NNN, and could provide potential benefits to biologic activity studies on these enantiomers and isomers.

Recent advances in chiral analysis for biosamples in clinical research and forensic toxicology

This article covers current methods and applications in chiral analysis from 2010 to 2020 for biosamples in clinical research and forensic toxicology. Sample preparation for aqueous and solid biological samples prior to instrumental analysis were discussed in the article. GC, HPLC, capillary electrophoresis and sub/supercritical fluid chromatography provide the efficient tools for chiral drug analysis coupled to fluorescence, UV and MS detectors. The application of chiral analysis is discussed in the article, which involves differentiation between clinical use and drug abuse, pharmacokinetic studies, pharmacology/toxicology evaluations and chiral inversion. Typical chiral analytes, including amphetamines and their analogs, anesthetics, psychotropic drugs, β-blockers and some other chiral compounds, are also reviewed.

Nonlinear behavior in preparative liquid chromatography: A method-development case study for hydroxytyrosol purification

Preparative liquid chromatography has become an important purification method owing to its advantages of high separation efficiency, good reproducibility, and low solvent consumption. Because overloading in preparative liquid chromatography must be performed to increase the throughput in a cycle, nonlinear chromatographic behavior is observed. Therefore, it is crucial to carefully study nonlinear chromatography for the purification of a given product, which facilitates the efficient optimization of the purification parameters. In this work, a method for the development of a purification method using preparative liquid chromatography based on nonlinear chromatography is proposed. Hydroxytyrosol was selected as the subject for method demonstration. Using methanol and ethanol as organic modifiers, the optimum flow rate was determined on three commercial columns entitled C₈ TDE, C₁₈ ME, and C₁₈ TDE, respectively. The curves were fitted with the van Deemter equation, with thorough analysis of the A, B, and C terms. Adsorption isotherms were subsequently studied to explore the distribution of solutes between the stationary and mobile phases at equilibrium. C₁₈ TDE, 5 vol% ethanol-water, and 0.2 mL/min were selected as the optimal separation material, elution solvent, and flow rate, respectively. Purification of hydroxytyrosol was tentatively confirmed on a C₁₈ TDE column with 1.6% sample loading, 90.98% recovery, and 98.01% purity.

Strong cation- and zwitterion-exchange-type mixed-mode stationary phases for separation of pharmaceuticals and biogenic amines in different chromatographic modes

A set of new mixed-mode ion-exchange stationary phases is presented. The backbone of organic selectors is formed by a linear hydrocarbon chain, which is divided into two parts of various lengths by a heteroatom (oxygen or nitrogen). In all studied cases, there is a sulfonic acid moiety as the terminal group. Therefore, selectors bearing oxygen gave rise to strong cation ion-exchange stationary phases, while selectors with an embedded nitrogen atom (inducing a weak anion exchange capacity) were used to create zwitterion ion-exchange stationary phases. The new mixed-mode stationary phases were chromatographically evaluated in high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) using isocratic elution conditions to disclose their chromatographic potential. In HPLC mode, aqueous-rich reversed phase chromatography, acetonitrile-rich hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography and methanolic ion-exchange chromatography mobile phases were employed. In these chromatographic modes, retention factors and selectivity values for a test set of basic and zwitterionic analytes were determined. The results were compared and principal component analysis for each chromatographic mode was performed. For all chromatographic modes, the component 1 in the principal component analysis reflected the elution order. The application of different mobile phases on a particular column resulted not only in variation in retention, but also in modified selectivity, and different elution order of the analytes. The orthogonality of the elution order depending on the employed mobile phase conditions was especially reflected for structurally closely related analytes, such as melatonin and N-acetyl-serotonin, tryptamine and serotonin or noradrenalin and octopamine. However, ion-exchange interactions remain the main driving force for retention. From all investigated stationary phases, the SCX 2 (C5-linker and C4-spacer) seems to be the best choice for the separation of basic analytes using different mobile phase conditions.

Supercritical Fluid Chromatography development of a predictive analytical tool to selectively extract bioactive compounds by supercritical fluid extraction and pressurised liquid extraction

Selective extraction is a great concern in the field of natural products. The interest is to apply specific conditions favouring the solubility of targeted secondary metabolites and avoiding the simultaneous extraction of unwanted ones. Different ways exist to reach selective extractions with suited conditions. These conditions can be determined from experimental studies through experimental design, but a full experimental design takes time, energy, and uses plant samples. Prediction from varied solubility models can also be applied allowing a better understanding of the final selected conditions and eventually less experiments. The aim of this work was to develop and use a chromatographic model to determine optimal extraction conditions without the need for numerous extraction experiments. This model would be applied on the selective extraction of the desired antioxidant compounds in rosemary leaves (rosmarinic and carnosic acids) vs chlorophyll pigments to limit the green colour in extracts. This model was achieved with Supercritical Fluid Chromatography (SFC) and then applied to Supercritical Fluid Extraction (SFE) and Pressurised Liquid Extraction (PLE) assays. SFC models predicted low solubility of chlorophylls for low (5%) and high (100%) percentage of solvent in carbon dioxide. Also, low solubility was predicted with acetonitrile solvent compared to methanol or ethanol. This was confirmed with different extractions performed using SFE with different percentages of solvent (5, 30, and 70%) and with the three solvents used in the SFC models (acetonitrile, methanol and ethanol). Also extractions using PLE were carried out using the same neat solvents in order to confirm the SFC models obtained for 100% of solvent. Globally, extractions validated the SFC models. Only some differences were observed between ethanol and methanol showing the complexity of plant extraction due to matrix effect. For all these extracts, the content of carnosic acid and rosmarinic acid was also monitored and selective extraction conditions of bioactive compounds could be determined.

Application of chiral chromatography in radiopharmaceutical fields: A review

Chiral column chromatography (CCC) is a revolutionary analytical methodology for the enantioseparation of novel positron emission tomography (PET) tracers in the primary stages of drug development. Due to the different behaviors of tracer enantiomers (e.g. toxicity, metabolism and side effects) in administrated subjects, their separation and purification is a challenging endeavor. Over the last three decades, different commercial chiral columns have been applied for the enantioseparation of PET-radioligand (PET-RL) or radiotracers (PET-RT), using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The categorization and reviewing of them is a vital topic. This review presents a brief overview of advances, applications, and future prospectives of CCC in radiopharmaceutical approaches. In addition, the effective chromatographic parameters and degravitation trends to enhance enantioseparation resolution are addressed. Moreover, the application and potential of chiral super fluidical chromatography (CSFC) as an alternative for enantioseparation in the field of radiopharmaceutical is discussed. Finally, the crucial application challenges of CCC are explained and imminent tasks are suggested.

Quantitative Analysis of Prenylated Constituents in Commercial Hops Samples Using Ultrahigh-Performance Supercritical Fluid Chromatography

The importance of hops (the flowers of Humulus lupulus) as food and an herbal remedy is reflected by a large number of analytical methods published. However, supercritical fluid chromatography, a highly efficient, rapid, and "green" separation technique, has not been considered for hops samples so far. This prompted us to establish the first supercritical fluid chromatography-based protocol for the separation, identification, and quantitation of five prenylated constituents of hops. Hulupinic acid ( 1: ), a prominent oxidation product of hop acids, three flavanones, i.e., 8-prenylnaringenin ( 2: ), 6-prenylnaringenin ( 3: ), and isoxanthohumol ( 4: ), as well as the chalcone xanthohumol ( 5: ) could be baseline separated in less than 5 minutes using a Viridis BEH 2-EP column (3.0 × 100 mm; 1.7 µm particle size) and a mobile phase consisting of CO₂ and isopropanol. Good results regarding selectivity, accuracy (recovery rates: 85.0 - 113.1%), precision (intra-day ≤ 2.1%, inter-day ≤ 3.5%), and linearity (R² ≥ 0.99) were obtained for both photodiode array and mass detection. The lowest detection limit at 220 nm was at 0.1 µg/mL ( 1, 3: , and 4: ), with mass detection even at 0.001 µg/mL ( 4: ). As an application example of the validated method, the five hops constituents were quantified in three dietary supplements, one herbal medicinal product, and two batches of hop flowers (Lupuli flos). In most samples analyzed, the major component was 5: (0.01 - 1.02%), whereas the major component in Lupuli flos samples was compound 1: (0.12 - 0.21%). This protocol offers a fast and environmentally friendly alternative to liquid chromatography for the quality control of hops.

Supercritical fluid chromatography-a technical overview and its applications in medicinal plant analysis: an update covering 2012-2018

Medicinal plants with complex matrices are endowed with a wide scope of biological activities. The separation, quantification, characterization and purification of bioactive components from herbal medicine extracts have always challenged analysts. Fortunately, the advancement of various emerging techniques has provided potent support for improving the method selectivity, sensitivity and run speeds in medicinal plant analyses. In recent years, the advent of new-generation supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) instruments and a wide diversity of column chemistries, coupled with the intrinsic technical features of SFC, have made it an alternative and prominent analytical platform in the medicinal plant research area. This work aims to give a comprehensive overview of the fundamentals, technical advancement and investigating parameters of SFC in combination with three prevalent detectors. Moreover, the latest research progress of SFC applications in medicinal plant analyses is illuminated, with focus on herbal medicine-related SFC papers on the analytical and preparative scale that were published during the period of 2012 to December 2018. The most relevant applications were classified based on the constituents to be analysed. As for the respective research cases, analytical protocols and data processing strategies were provided, along with the indicated restrictions or superiority of the method; thus, the current status of SFC in medicinal plant analysis was presented.

High-performance liquid chromatographic and subcritical fluid chromatographic separation of α-arylated ß-carboline, N-alkylated tetrahydroisoquinolines and their bioisosteres on polysaccharide-based chiral stationary phases

New, pharmacologically interesting chiral amino compounds, namely, stereoisomers of α-hydroxynaphthyl-ß-carboline, benz[d]azepine and benz[c]azepine analogs as well as N-α-hydroxynaphthylbenzyl-substituted isoquinolines were enantioseparated by high-performance liquid chromatographic and subcritical fluid chromatographic methods on polysaccharide-based chiral stationary phases. Separation of the stereoisomers was optimized in both subcritical fluid chromatography and normal phase liquid chromatographic modes by investigating the effects of the composition of the bulk solvent, temperature, and the structures of the analytes and selectors. Both normal phase liquid chromatography and subcritical fluid chromatography exhibited satisfactory performance, albeit with somewhat different effectiveness in the separation of the stereoisomers studied. The optimized methods offer the possibility to apply preparative-scale separations thereby enabling further pharmacological investigations of the enantiomers.

Fast enantioseparation of indole phytoalexins in additive free supercritical fluid chromatography

A series of chiral indole phytoalexins with potential anticancer and antimicrobial activity were enantioseparated in supercritical fluid chromatography. Two polysaccharide-based chiral stationary phases composed of tris-(3,5-dimethylphenylcarbamate) derivatives of amylose or cellulose coated on 2.5 μm silica particles were successfully used. The influences of the polysaccharide backbone, co-solvent type and co-solvent content in the mobile phase on retention, enantioselectivity and enantioresolution of indole phytoalexins were investigated. Fast baseline separations were achieved for 26 from 27 tested compounds. Amylose-based chiral stationary phase provided higher number of baseline resolutions of the indole phytoalexins than the cellulose-based one. However, certain complementary enantioresolution results towards the studied compounds were observed between the investigated columns. The relationship between structure of the indole phytoalexins and their chromatographic behavior in supercritical fluid chromatography was discussed.

Assessment of Repeatability in Supercritical Fluid Chromatography with Electrochemical Detection Based on the ISO 11843 Part 7

The present study proposes a method for the assessment of repeatability in supercritical fluid chromatography with electrochemical detection (SFC-ECD), based on the ISO 11843 part 7 (ISO 11843-7:2018) which can theoretically provide detection limits and standard deviation (S.D.) through the stochastic properties of baseline noise without repetitive measurements of real samples. On the baseline noise of SFC-ECD, large-amplitude and periodic noises with less than 0.05 Hz were observed, and the power spectrum of the baseline noise showed 1/f fluctuation (f = frequency). It was found that the present power spectrum analysis, according to the law of error propagation, can provide suitable noise parameters to calculate S.D. of baseline noise and a relative S.D. (RSD) of peak area by ISO 11843-7. The chromatographic determinations of α-, β-, γ- and δ-tocopherol have been taken as examples. In the present SFC-ECD, the RSDs of peak areas for α-, β-, γ- and δ-tocopherol obtained by ISO 11843-7 were within 95% confidence intervals of the RSD of them obtained by repetitive measurements (n = 6). Thus, we found that ISO 11843-7 is applicable to the assessment of repeatability in SFC-ECD for determining tocopherols without repetitive measurements.

A Novel Targeted Analysis of Peripheral Steroids by Ultra-Performance Supercritical Fluid Chromatography Hyphenated to Tandem Mass Spectrometry

Ultra-performance supercritical fluid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (UPSFC–MS/MS) is an alternative method for steroid analysis. Continuous development of analytical methodologies for steroid profiling is of major importance in the clinical environment to provide useful and more comprehensive data. The aim of this study was to identify and quantify a large number of endogenous steroids from the four major classes (estrogens, androgens, progestogens and corticosteroids) simultaneously within a short analytical time. This novel UPSFC–MS/MS method with electrospray in positive ionisation (ESI+) mode is robust, selective and present sufficiently high sensitivity to profile nineteen steroids in 50 µL human plasma. Under optimised conditions, nineteen different steroids were separated with high efficiency in the multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode. The linearity of the method was good with correlation coefficients (R²) in the range of 0.9983–0.9999 and with calibration range from 0.05–500 ng/mL in human plasma. The intraday and interday precision of the method, as RSD, was less than 15%. The accuracy of the nineteen analytes varied between 80 to 116%. Finally, the novel method was successfully applied for the determination of nineteen steroids within 5 minutes providing the possibility to use it for research as well as routine healthcare practice.

An environmentally friendly method for the enantioseparation and determination of benalaxyl in tobacco and soil by ultra-performance convergence chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry

For the purpose of chiral separation and determination of benalaxyl enantiomers in tobacco and soil, we developed a rapid, green, and sensitive method using ultra-performance convergence chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry. The samples were extracted and purified by the quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe method before injection. The baseline separation was obtained on a chiral column in 5 min with carbon dioxide and ethanol as mobile phase. Separation parameters were optimized for the best separation efficiency. Under optimal conditions, the recoveries of both enantiomers were 77.1-98.4% with relative standard deviations <5.0% at spiked level of 0.1, 2.0, and 5.0 mg/kg in two matrices. Good coefficients of determination were achieved over the concentration range of 10-250 ng/mL. The limit of detection and the limit of quantification for all enantiomers ranged from 0.43 to 0.72 μg/kg and from 1.25 to 2.15 μg/kg, respectively. The results show that ultra-performance convergence chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry provides a reliable, green, and rapid method for the separation and determination of benalaxyl enantiomers in tobacco and soil. This method has important theoretical significance for studying the enantioselectivity and bioactivity of benalaxyl in the environment and in organisms.

Polymeric stationary phases based on poly(butylene terephthalate) and poly(4-vinylpirydine) in the analysis of polyphenols using supercritical fluid chromatography. Application to bee pollen

Two new polymer-based stationary phases; DCpak PBT (poly(butylene terephthalate)) and DCpak P4VP (poly(4-vinylpirydine)) were evaluated for the analysis of polyphenols using supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC). The compounds studied included phenolic acids and flavonoids. The different variables that influence the chromatographic separation, such as type and percentage of organic modifier, additive, pressure and temperature were examined. Using the DCpak P4VP column the retention was exceptionally high, obtaining better results with the DCpak PBT column. The separation of nine polyphenols was achieved using a gradient of modifier (methanol with 0.1% trifluoroacetic acid) from 5 to 50%, a pressure of 150 bar, a temperature of 35 °C and a flow-rate of 2 mL/min. The use of additives was necessary in order to obtain good peak shapes and efficiencies, achieving the best results with trifluoroacetic acid. LODs and LOQs values were lower than 5 μg/mL in all the cases; meanwhile, the %RSD values for method repeatability and inter-day reproducibility were lower than 3% and 10% respectively. Finally, the proposed method was successfully applied to the analysis of polyphenols in commercial bee pollen; four compounds, namely cinnamic acid, p-coumaric acid, catechin and quercetin were identified and quantified.

Study of the chromatographic parameters of ultra-high-performance supercritical fluid chromatography and method development using a design of experiments approach for the quantification of pesticides in lettuce

We examine the potential of ultra-high-performance supercritical fluid chromatography for multiresidue quantification of ten pesticides commonly applied to lettuce and compares it to ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography. Initially, a thorough study of the stationary and mobile phase composition and injection solvent was carried out. In a second step, a chemometric approach based on design of experiments was used to simultaneously study the influence of temperature, pressure, and percentage of ethanol on the retention, resolution and symmetry of the peaks. Using this approach, it was possible to obtain the Design Space, a robust region where complete separation of the analytes was achieved, with acceptable peak shape. Both methods were validated according to the figures of merit: selectivity, linearity, quantification limit, accuracy (in terms of recovery), and precision (repeatability and intermediate precision) and used to quantify the pesticides in lettuce samples. Comparing both techniques, it was concluded that the limits of quantification, accuracy, and precision were similar. However, in supercritical fluid chromatography, a reduced volume of organic solvent was used, the method was faster and generated lower amounts of residues.