The effect of chain length of bonded organic phases in reversed phase high performance liquid chromatography

Determination of the hydrophobicity of local anesthetic agents

Hydrophobicity, a term used to describe a fundamental physicochemical property of local anesthetics, was in the past obtained by octanol/buffer partitioning. It has been suggested that the octanol method, despite its obvious advantages, also has some drawbacks. HPLC has become an attractive alternative for the measurement of hydrophobicity and has been applied to local anesthetics recently. However, the methods in current use for measuring the hydrophobicity of local anesthetics suffer from a number of limitations and remain obscure. This study introduces a new HPLC method for measuring the hydrophobicity of eight local anesthetics in current clinical use. Using a C(18) derivatized polystyrene-divinylbenzene stationary phase HPLC column, the log k'(w) values of local anesthetics were determined by measuring the capacity factor k'(i) in the process of chromatographic separation using a hydrophobic stationary phase and a hydrophilic mobile phase. A rapid reversed-phase HPLC method was developed to directly measure log k'(w) of eight local anesthetics. A high correlation between log k'(w) and hydrophobicity (log P(oct)) from the traditional shake-flask method was obtained for the local anesthetics, demonstrating the reliability of the method. The results reveal an improved method for measuring the hydrophobicity of the local anesthetic agents in the unionized form. This simple, sensitive and reproducible approach may serve as a valuable tool for describing the physicochemical properties of novel local anesthetics.

In situ ATR-FT-IR kinetic studies of molecular transport and surface binding in thin sol-gel films: reactions of chlorosilane reagents in porous silica materials

ATR-FT-IR spectroscopy was employed to study the kinetics of transport and binding within thin silica sol-gel films. Studies of transport of several nonbinding probe molecules n-heptane, toluene, and 2-propanol, showed that slow diffusion occurs within the micropores of the sol-gel films which could be modeled as a single-exponential accumulation in agreement with numerical models for diffusion in constricted pores. The rate of transport into the film was found to decrease for molecules that interact strongly with the silica surface, which is consistent with adsorption inhibiting the transport of molecules through the pores. In situ spectroscopic studies of surface reactions with diphenylchlorosilane (DP-SiCl) reveal that DPSiCl reacts quickly with surface water to form diphenylhydroxysilane (DPSiOH), the reactive species detected within the film. Analysis of the time-dependent infrared spectra reveals both transport and surface-binding steps in the reaction kinetics. From the magnitudes of the rate constants and the corresponding pure component spectra, it is determined that the surface-binding component is responsible for accumulation of most of the silane at the silica surface. Ex situ spectroscopic studies confirm that Si-O-Si bond formation occurs at room temperature in these sol-gel films. Studies of chlorosilane reactions at silica surfaces pretreated with triethylamine were conducted to investigate the influence of amines on this chemistry; it was determined that the amine enhances the transport of more reagent molecules to the silica surface while the intrinsic rate of the binding reaction is not significantly changed.

Characterization of liquid chromatographic stationary phases by Raman spectroscopy. Effect of ligand type

This study represents the first Raman spectroscopic characterization of conventional chemically-bonded liquid chromatographic (LC) stationary phases under typical flow-rate and pressure conditions. Raman spectra were obtained for amino propyl (NH2), cyano propyl (CN), phenyl (Ph), octadecyl (C18), octyl (C8), and methyl (C1) chemically-bonded silica-based stationary phases in 100% aqueous mobile phases. The present experimental set-up has allowed Raman spectra of various stationary phase ligands, present in sub-monolayer coverages on the siliceous supports, to be obtained. This study: (1) demonstrates that conventional Raman spectroscopic techniques can be used to study LC stationary phases; (2) presents the experimental set-up, conditions, and approaches utilized to obtain Raman spectra of conventional stationary phases; (3) examines the spectroscopic differences observed for a variety of different types of bonded ligands that are typically used in reversed-phase (RPLC) and normal-phase (NPLC) liquid chromatographic separations; and (4) considers other future studies that are possible with this experimental approach, including mobile phase composition and temperature studies.

Retention behaviour of paracelsin peptides on reversed-phase silicas with varying n-alkyl chain length and ligand density

As part of further investigations on the characterization of the ligand-induced conformational stabilization of peptides, two series of n-alkyldimethylsilyl bonded silicas have been prepared. In series A the n-alkyl chain length, n, of the bonded phase was varied between 1 and 20 carbon atoms at a constant ligand density. In series B the ligand density, alpha exp, was gradually changed from 0 to 4.1 mumol/m2 on a C1, C4, C6, C8 and C18 bonded phase. The retention behaviour of four peptides of the paracelsin family were examined under isocratic conditions, using a ternary mobile phase of water-methanol-acetonitrile (22:39:39, v/v/v). Plots of k' versus n showed pronounced maxima between n = 2 and 4 carbon atoms, followed by a decrease by a factor of 3 at n = 5, whereas above 5 carbon atoms only a slight increase in k' was observed. The selectivity behaviour of the paracelsins A-D can be mainly rationalized by interaction of the amphiphathic polypeptide 3.6(13) (alpha)-helix with the hydrophobic ligand and protrusion of the key amino acid residues at positions 6 and 9 in the sequence. However, from experiments with a polystyrene stationary phase it is evident that hydrophobic interactions and different partition coefficients also contribute to the resolution of the paracelsin peptides. Furthermore, Van 't Hoff plots confirm significant free energy changes associated with retention. These observations provide the basis for evaluating the enthalpic and entropic changes associated with peptide interactions with n-alkyl silicas.