Calculation of amino acid hydrophilicity indices for retention of peptides on amide, diol and silica columns in normal-phase liquid chromatography

Applications of hydrophilic interaction chromatography to amino acids, peptides, and proteins

This review summarizes the recent advances in the analysis of amino acids, peptides, and proteins using hydrophilic interaction chromatography. Various reports demonstrate the successful analysis of amino acids under such conditions. However, a baseline resolution of the 20 natural amino acids has not yet been published and for this reason, there is often a need to use mass spectrometry for detection to further improve selectivity. Hydrophilic interaction chromatography is also recognized as a powerful technique for peptide analysis, and there are a lot of papers showing its applicability for proteomic applications (peptide mapping). It is expected that its use for peptide mapping will continue to grow in the future, particularly because this analytical strategy can be combined with reversed-phase liquid chromatography, in a two-dimensional setup, to reach very high resolving power. Finally, the interest in hydrophilic interaction chromatography for intact proteins analysis is less evident due to possible solubility issues and a lack of suitable hydrophilic interaction chromatography stationary phases. To date, it has been successfully employed only for the characterization of membrane proteins, histones, and the separation of glycosylated isoforms of an intact glycoprotein. From our point of view, the number of hydrophilic interaction chromatography columns compatible with intact proteins (higher upper temperature limit, large pore size, etc.) is still too limited.

Synthesis of a mixed-model stationary phase derived from glutamine for HPLC separation of structurally different biologically active compounds: HILIC and reversed-phase applications

A novel mixed-mode stationary phase was synthesised starting from N-Boc-glutamine, aniline and spherical silica gel (4 µm, 60 Å). The prepared stationary phase was characterized by IR and elemental analysis. The new stationary phase bears an embedded amide group into phenyl ring, highly polar a terminal amide group and non-polar groups (phenyl and alkyl groups). At first, this new mixed-mode stationary phase was used for HILIC separation of four nucleotides and five nucleosides. The effects of different separation conditions, such as pH value, mobile phase and temperature, on the separation process were investigated. The optimum separation for nucleotides was achieved using HILIC isocratic elution with aqueous mobile phase and acetonitrile with 20°C column temperature. Under these conditions, the four nucleotides could be separated and detected at 265 nm within 14 min. Five nucleosides were separated under HILIC isocratic elution with aqueous mobile phase containing pH=3.25 phosphate buffer (10mM) and acetonitrile with 20°C column temperature and detected at 265 nm within 14 min. Chromatographic parameters as retention factor, selectivity, theoretical plate number and peak asymmetry factor were calculated for the effect of temperature and water content in mobile phase on the separation process. The new column was also tested for nucleotides and nucleosides mixture and six analytes were separated in 10min. The chromatographic behaviours of these polar analytes on the new mixed-model stationary phase were compared with those of HILIC columns under similar conditions. Further, phytohormones and phenolic compounds were separated in order to see influence of the new stationary phase in reverse phase conditions. Eleven plant phytohormones were separated within 13 min using RP-HPLC gradient elution with aqueous mobile phase containing pH=2.5 phosphate buffer (10mM) and acetonitrile with 20°C column temperature and detected at 230 or 278 nm. The best separation conditions for seven phenolic compounds was also achieved using reversed-phase HPLC gradient elution with aqueous mobile phase containing pH=2.5 phosphate buffer (10mM) and acetonitrile with 20°C column temperature and seven phenolic compounds could be separated and detected at 230 nm within 16 min.

Retention behavior of peptides in hydrophilic-interaction chromatography

Selected hydrophilic interaction chromatography (HILIC) columns packed with bare silica, bridge-ethyl hybrid silica, or an amide sorbent chemistry were utilized for an investigation of chromatographic behavior and separation selectivity of tryptic peptides. Retention model was proposed allowing for retention prediction of peptides with correlation coefficient R(2)~0.92-0.97 for various columns. The values of optimized amino acid retention coefficients were compared to those obtained for reversed-phase liquid chromatography (Gilar et al., Anal. Chem. 2010, 82, 265-275) and used to elucidate the impact of different amino acid on peptide HILIC retention. In contrast to reversed-phase chromatography, where presence of Phe, Trp, Ile, and Leu amino acid residues in sequence strongly promoted, and presence of hydrophilic His, Lys and Arg residues strongly reduced peptide retention, the effects of these amino acid residues in HILIC were opposite (His, Lys and Arg promote, Phe, Trp, Ile and Leu demote peptide retention in HILIC). Retention coefficient optimized for pH experiments illustrated the impact of silanols on HILIC retention.

Application of hydrophilic interaction chromatography retention coefficients for predicting peptide elution with TFA and methanesulfonic acid ion-pairing reagents

Hydrophilic retention coefficients for 17 peptides were calculated based on retention coefficients previously published for TSKgel silica-60 and were compared with the experimental elution profile on a Waters Atlantis HILIC silica column using TFA and methanesulfonic acid (MSA) as ion-pairing reagents. Relative peptide retention could be accurately determined with both counter-ions. Peptide retention and chromatographic behavior were influenced by the percent acid modifier used with increases in both retention and peak symmetry observed at increasing modifier concentrations. The enhancement of net peptide polarity through MSA pairing shifted retention out by nearly five-fold for the earliest eluting peptide, compared with TFA. Despite improvements in retention and efficiency (N(eff)) for MSA over TFA, a consistent reduction in calculated selectivity (alpha) was observed. This result is believed to be attributed to the stronger polar contribution of MSA masking and diminishing the underlying influence of the amino acid residues of each associated peptide. Finally, post-column infusion of propionic acid and acetic acid was evaluated for their potential to recover signal intensity for TFA and MSA counter-ions for LC-ESI-MS applications. Acetic acid generally yielded more substantial signal improvements over propionic acid on the TFA system while minimal benefits and some further reductions were noted with MSA.

Preparation of highly efficient monolithic silica capillary columns for the separations in weak cation-exchange and HILIC modes

Weak cation-exchange (WCX) and HILIC modes columns were prepared by on-column polymerization of acrylic acid on monolithic silica capillary columns modified with N-(3-triethoxysilylpropyl)methacrylamide anchor groups. The polymer-coated columns could be used for HILIC mode separation of pyridylamino (PA)-sugars and peptides including a tryptic digest of BSA, while for weak cation-exchange mode for the separation of proteins and nucleosides even at high linear velocity. The poly(acrylic acid) coated monolithic silica capillary columns showed greater retention toward PA-sugars than a polyacrylamide coated monolithic silica capillary columns prepared in the same manner. Proteins and nucleosides were separated effectively at pH 6.9 using the same column. The column provided fair permeability after the polymer-coating step. High-speed separation of proteins at u=4.66 mm/s with high efficiency was shown to be possible, while high-speed separation of nucleosides has achieved within one minute using the column at u=8.67 mm/s, suggesting that the column will be suitable for the second dimension separation of multidimensional HPLC systems.

Chromatography of amino acids and short peptides. New advances

The newest results in the application of various chromatographic methods (gas-liquid chromatography, liquid chromatographic techniques, electrically driven systems) for the separation and quantitative determination of amino acids and short peptides in pure state and in complicated matrices are compiled. The results are concisely described and critically evaluated. The future trends of the chromatographic analysis of amino acids and short peptides are briefly discussed.

HILIC mode separation of polar compounds by monolithic silica capillary columns coated with polyacrylamide

HILIC mode columns were prepared by an on-column polymerization of acrylamide on a monolithic silica capillary column modified with N-(3-trimethoxysilylpropyl)methacrylamide as the anchor group. The products showed HILIC mode retention characteristics with three times greater permeability and slightly higher column efficiency compared to a commercially available amide-type HILIC column packed with 5-mum particles. The selectivity of the monolithic silica-based column was similar to that of the particulate column for each group of solutes towards nucleosides, nucleic bases and carbohydrate derivatives, although a considerable difference was observed in the selectivity for the solute groups. Although the retention of solutes based on the polar functionality was much smaller with the monolithic silica columns, which had a smaller phase ratio, than with the particle-packed column, the former can achieve better separation utilizing the high permeability and higher column efficiencies of a longer column.

Hydrophobic Contribution of Amino Acids in Peptides Measured by Hydrophobic Interaction Chromatography

The adsorption behaviors of amino acids in short chain peptides were examined. Each amino acid, aliphatic or charged, was inserted between the two tryptophans of a peptide, GWWG. The capacity factors of these peptides on an Ocytl-Sepharose column were measured. The adsorption enthalpies, entropies, and the number of repelled water molecules after adsorption were estimated to analyze the contribution of each different amino acid to its hydrophobic adsorption. The peptides inserted with aliphatic amino acids owned the highest capacity factors but released the least amount of adsorption heat among all the peptides under examination. It was found that the hydrophobic contribution of aliphatic amino acids was derived from the entropy gain by repelling the ordered water surrounding them. The insertion of negatively charged amino acids greatly reduced the capacity factors but still repelled a significant number of water molecules after adsorption. This indicated that the water molecules surrounding ionic amino acids were not orderly aligned. The dehydration cost energy but the water repelling did not offer enough entropy to drive the adsorption. Subsequently, lower retention was obtained from the peptides inserted with negatively charged ionic amino acids. The insertion of lysine increased the adsorption enthalpy but repelled no water molecules after adsorption. It was speculated that the inserted lysine still interacted with hydrophobic ligands but disturbed the interaction between ligands and adjacent tryptophans. Therefore, the adsorption enthalpy increased and the capacity factors decreased. Different amino acids contributed to hydrophobic interaction in different ways. The simultaneous analysis of capacity factor, adsorption enthalpy, adsorption entropy, and the number of repelled water molecules facilitated the understanding of the adsorption processes.

Retention behavior of small polar compounds on polar stationary phases in hydrophilic interaction chromatography

Retention characteristics of four polar stationary phases (i.e., amide, amino, silica and sulfobetaine) were studied by using a group of small polar compounds in hydrophilic interaction chromatography (HILIC). Different polar stationary phases shared certain degrees of similarity, but also exhibited differences in retentivity and selectivity for the model compounds. Among the four columns studied, HILIC Silica column had the least retention for the model compounds, but also showed different selectivity from other three columns. Experimental data also provided some evidences that functional groups on the stationary phases might have certain degrees of influence on selectivity possibly through secondary interactions with the model compounds. The retention of the acids on the amino phase decreased with increasing salt concentration in the mobile phase due to the ion-exchange effect, and the retention process was endothermic as opposed to exothermic on other phases. This study also systematically investigated the effect of various experimental factors on the retention of the polar stationary phases, such as acetonitrile content, column temperature, buffer pH, salt type and concentration in the mobile phase.

Peptide separation by Hydrophilic-Interaction Chromatography: a review

Recent developments in the separation of peptides by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) using polar sorbents with less polar eluents are summarized in this review. This separation mode is now commonly referred to as Hydrophilic-Interaction Chromatography (HILIC). The retention mechanism and chromatographic behavior of polar solutes under HILIC conditions are studied on TSKgel Amide-80 columns, which consist of carbamoyl groups bonded to a silica gel matrix, using a mixture of acetonitrile (MeCN)-water containing 0.1% trifluoroacetic acid (TFA). Some applications are given in peptide field using Hydrophilic-Interaction Chromatography.

Investigation of mixed-mode monolithic stationary phases for the analysis of charged amino acids and peptides by capillary electrochromatography

The potential of N,N-dimethylacrylamide-piperazine diacrylamide-based monolithic stationary phases bearing sulfonic acid groups for electroosmotic flow generation is investigated for the separation of positively charged amino acids and peptides. The capillary columns were used under electrochromatographic but also under purely chromatographic (nano-HPLC) conditions and the separations interpreted as the result of possible chromatographic and electrophoretic contributions. The stationary phases were found to be mechanically stable up to pressures of 190 bar and chemically stable towards a wide variety of organic and hydro-organic mobile phases. In order to investigate the retention mechanism, the salt concentration and the organic solvent content of the (hydro-)organic mobile phase were varied in a systematic manner, taking three aromatic amino acids (phenylalanine, tryptophan, histidine) as model analytes. The respective contributions of electrostatic and hydrophobic and/or hydrophilic interactions were further investigated by varying the charge density and the hydrophobicity of the standard stationary phase. The former was done by varying the amount of charged monomer (vinylsulfonic acid) added during synthesis, the latter by (partially) replacing the interactive monomer (N,N-dimethylacrylamide) by other more hydrophobic monomers. A mixed mode retention mechanism based primarily on electrostatic interactions modified in addition by "hydrophilic" ones seems most suited to interpret the behavior of the amino acids, which stands in contradistinction to the previously investigated case of the behavior of neutral analytes on similar stationary phases. Finally the separation of small peptides was investigated. While the separation of Gly-Phe and Gly-Val was not possible, the separation of Phe-Gly-Phe-Gly and Gly-Phe but also of the closely related Gly-His and Gly-Gly-His could be achieved.