Could linear solvation energy relationships give insights into chiral recognition mechanisms?

An enhanced strategy integrating offline two-dimensional separation with data independent acquisition mode and deconvolution: Characterization of metabolites of Uncaria rhynchophylla in rat plasma as a case

The importance to clarify the drug metabolites is beyond doubt in view of their potential efficacy and safety. However, due to the complex matrix interference, relatively low content and the co-eluting effect, it is of a great challenge to comprehensively and systematically characterize the metabolites in vivo, especially for the traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) due to the numerous types of components. In the present study, a comprehensive off-line two-dimensional separation system combining with data independent acquisition (DIA) mode and multi-dimensional data deconvolution method was established for chromatographic separation, data acquisition and data procession of indole alkaloids in rat plasma after intragastrically administrated with the extract of Uncaria rhynchophylla at the dose of 1 g/kg. The orthogonality of the off-line 2D separation system consisting of HILIC for first-dimensional separation and the PRLC for second-dimensional separation was valuated with the "asterisk" equations, and the results showed that off-line 2D separation system had passable orthogonality (A₀ = 53.3%). Furthermore, the DIA mode was applied to capture MS/MS spectra in view of its advantage in acquiring MS data, and an effective multi-dimensional deconvolution method integrating the calculation of chemical formula, the extraction of diagnostic ion, the filter of ring double bond (RDB) and the judgement of neutral loss was established to parse the spectra for the complicated DIA data for comprehensive analysis of metabolites in rat plasma. Ultimately, a total of 127 indole alkaloids were tentatively characterized, and the main metabolic pathways were inferred as demethylation, dehydrogenation, hydroxylation and deglycosylation. The off-line two-dimensional separation system was applied for the comprehensive characterization of metabolites in vivo for the first time. This study suggested a new approach to enable the enrichment, separation and analysis of the low content components in vivo.

Characterization of three macrocyclic glycopeptide stationary phases in supercritical fluid chromatography

Macrocyclic glycopeptides have been used as chromatographic stationary phases for over twenty years, particularly for their ability to separate enantiomers. While they are mostly used with buffered aqueous liquid mobile phases, they can also be used in supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) with mobile phases comprising pressurized carbon dioxide and a co-solvent (like methanol), possibly comprising acidic or basic additives. In the present study, we compared three macrocyclic glycopeptide stationary phases (Chirobiotic V2, Chirobiotic T and Chirobiotic TAG) in SFC with carbon dioxide - methanol (90:10) containing no additives. First, the interactions contributing to retention are evaluated with a modified version of the solvation parameter model, comprising five Abraham descriptors (E, S, A, B, V) and two additional descriptors to take account of interactions with ionizable species (D^- and D⁺). Linear solvation energy relationships (LSER) are established based on the retention of 145 achiral analytes. Secondly, the contributions of interactions to enantioseparations are discussed, based on the analysis of 67 racemates. The individual success rate on each phase was observed to be moderate, especially as these phases are known to be more efficient when acidic or basic additives are employed. Chirobiotic TAG proved more successful than the other two phases. Discriminant analyses were computed to gain some insight on retention mechanisms, but only Chirobiotic TAG provided interpretable results. Finally, the effects of a small proportion of acidic or basic additive on enantioseparation with Chirobiotic T stationary phase are briefly discussed.

Evaluating the interactions of organic compounds with multi-walled carbon nanotubes by self-packed HPLC column and linear solvation energy relationship

Understanding the interactions between organic pollutants and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) is critical for fate assessment of both CNTs and organic pollutants. In this study, the chromatographic approach was introduced based on CNTs as stationary phase for the evaluation of such interactions. The pristine multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were packed into columns of high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) and the retention factors (k') were determined to characterize the adsorption affinity of organic compounds onto MWCNTs. Nine compounds were tested. The results showed that their lnk' values followed the order: benzene < toluene < phenol < chlorobenzene < bromobenzene < aniline < sulfamethoxazole < sulfadiazine ≈ sulfadimidine. The linear solvation energy relationship (LSER) theory was adopted to correlate lnk' with the molecular solvatochromic parameters. We found that lnk' of the studied compounds correlate positively with molecular polarizability (E) significantly, suggesting that the π-/n-electrons-dependent polarizable interactions play a major role for the adsorption. Moreover, the thermodynamic parameters calculated from van't Hoff equations revealed that the interactions between the compounds and MWCNTs were spontaneous and exothermic processes.

Selectivity of Brij-35 in Micellar Liquid Chromatographic Separation of Positional Isomers

Implementation of Brij-35, a nonionic surfactant, as a mobile phase for separation of positional isomers is investigated. Chromolith C-18 SpeedROD is used as a stationary phase. The effect of surfactant and organic modifier (propanol) concentration on the separation of some selected isomers is studied and evaluated in terms of linear solvation energy relationship (LSER). Shape selectivity is assessed by α value of sorbic and benzoic acid, which is found to be 1.339 by using mobile phase composed of 0.5% aqueous solutions of Brij-35 and propanol in 9 : 1. Isomers of parabens, nitroanilines, nitrophenols, and quinolinols are successfully separated using mobile phases composed of various percentages of surfactant and propanol. System constants for nonionic MLC using LSER analysis show that hydrogen bond basicity and dipolarity may be major contributors to selectivity, while excess molar refraction helps fine-tuning the separation which also imparts unique selectivity to nonionic surfactants as compared to ionic ones.

Retention mechanism of a cholesterol-coated C18 stationary phase: van't Hoff and Linear Solvation Energy Relationships (LSER) approaches

This study examines the effect of temperature on the dynamic cholesterol coating of a C18 stationary phase and the effect of this coating on the retention mechanism. In general, an increase in temperature results in a decrease in the mass of cholesterol coated on the stationary phase. Typically, an increase in temperature from 25°C to 55°C results in a nearly 60% reduction in the mass of cholesterol loaded. The inclusion of temperature, along with loading solvent composition and cholesterol concentration in the loading solvent, allows for loading a targeted amount of cholesterol on the stationary phase over an order-of-magnitude range. In addition to loading studies, the retention mechanism of small non-ionizable solutes was examined on cholesterol-coated stationary phases. A van't Hoff analysis was performed to assess retention thermodynamics, while a LSER approach was used to examine retention mechanism. With 50/50 water/organic mobile phases, the addition of cholesterol results in an increase in the entropic contribution to retention, with a decrease in the enthalpic contribution. The opposite trend is seen with 40/60 water/organic mobile phases. LSER system constants are also affected by a cholesterol coating on the stationary phase, with some changing to favor elution and others changing to favor retention.

Chiral recognition by enantioselective liquid chromatography: mechanisms and modern chiral stationary phases

An overview of the state-of-the-art in LC enantiomer separation is presented. This tutorial review is mainly focused on mechanisms of chiral recognition and enantiomer distinction of popular chiral selectors and corresponding chiral stationary phases including discussions of thermodynamics, additivity principle of binding increments, site-selective thermodynamics, extrathermodynamic approaches, methods employed for the investigation of dominating intermolecular interactions and complex structures such as spectroscopic methods (IR, NMR), X-ray diffraction and computational methods. Modern chiral stationary phases are discussed with particular focus on those that are commercially available and broadly used. It is attempted to provide the reader with vivid images of molecular recognition mechanisms of selected chiral selector-selectand pairs on basis of solid-state X-ray crystal structures and simulated computer models, respectively. Such snapshot images illustrated in this communication unfortunately cannot account for the molecular dynamics of the real world, but are supposed to be helpful for the understanding. The exploding number of papers about applications of various chiral stationary phases in numerous fields of enantiomer separations is not covered systematically.

Retention mechanism of high-performance liquid chromatographic enantioseparation on macrocyclic glycopeptide-based chiral stationary phases

The development of methods for the separation of enantiomers has attracted great interest in the past 20 years, since it became evident that the potential biological or pharmacological applications are mostly restricted to one of the enantiomers. In the past decade, macrocyclic antibiotics have proved to be an exceptionally useful class of chiral selectors for the separation of enantiomers of biological and pharmacological importance by means of high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), thin-layer chromatography and electrophoresis. The glycopeptides avoparcin, teicoplanin, ristocetin A and vancomycin have been extensively used as chiral selectors in the form of chiral bonded phases in HPLC, and HPLC stationary phases based on these glycopeptides have been commercialized. In fact, the macrocyclic glycopeptides are to some extent complementary to one another: where partial enantioresolution is obtained with one glycopeptide, there is a high probability that baseline or better separation can be obtained with another. This review sets out to characterize the physicochemical properties of these macrocyclic glycopeptide antibiotics and, through their application, endeavors to demonstrate the mechanism of separation on macrocyclic glycopeptides. The sequence of elution of the stereoisomers and the relation to the absolute configuration are also discussed.

Could linear solvation energy relationships give insights into chiral recognition mechanisms? 2. Characterization of macrocyclic glycopeptide stationary phases

Five parameter linear solvation energy relationships (LSER) are known to have little or no shape recognition ability. However, it is proposed to use LSER studies to get insights into chiral recognition mechanisms. Since the two enantiomers have exactly the same five A-V solute descriptors being still separated by chiral stationary phases (CSPs), it can be considered that they form two different transient diastereoisomers with the CSP. It is then possible to perform LSER studies on the enantioselectivity factors taken as the two enantiomer retention factor ratios. In a first step, the five a-v system parameters of four CSPs of the macrocyclic glycopeptide types were determined using a set of test solutes with known A-V descriptors, both in the reversed phase and the normal phase modes. In a second step, the A-V descriptors of 18 enantiomeric pairs were tentatively established using five achiral columns with known a-v parameters. This was successful for the five molecular enantiomers only. It was found that the predicted retention factor for the molecular enantiomers separated on a given CSP corresponded either to retention factor of the first experimentally eluted enantiomer or to the second one or to none of them. Using the enantioselectivity factors it was possible to obtain the Deltaa-Deltav parameters corresponding to the difference in CSP properties seen by the two enantiomers. For the five molecular enantiomeric pairs in the reversed phase mode with a teicoplanin CSP, it was found that there was an elevated contribution by the e coefficient that we interpret as a possible interaction between surface charges on the teicoplanin CSP and solute induced dipoles. Steric effects, seen on the v parameter, are second in magnitude followed by H-bond and polar interactions. Only one solute could be studied in the normal phase mode showing a different mechanism with polar and steric major interactions.