Applications of derivatization reactions to trace organic compounds during sample preparation based on pressurized liquid extraction

4-hydrazinobenzoic acid as a derivatizing agent for aldehyde analysis by HPLC-UV and CE-DAD

Aldehydes are relevant analytes in a wide range of samples, in particular, food and beverages but also body fluids. Hydrazines can undergo nucleophilic addition with aldehydes or ketones giving origin to hydrazones (a group of stable imines) that can be suitably used in the identification of aldehydes. Herein, 4-hydrazinobenzoic acid (HBA) was, for the first time, used as the derivatizing agent in analytical methodologies using liquid chromatography aiming the determination of low-molecular aldehydes. The derivatization reaction was simultaneously performed along with the extraction process, using gas-diffusion microextraction (GDME), which resulted in a clean extract containing the HBA-aldehyde derivates. The corresponding formed imines were determined by both high-performance liquid chromatography (LC) with UV spectrophotometric detection (HPLC-UV) and capillary electrophoresis with diode array detection (CE-DAD). HBA showed to be a rather advantageous derivatization reagent due to its stability, relatively high solubility in water and other solvents, high selectivity and sensibility, reduced impurities, simple preparation steps and applicability to different separation and/or different detection techniques. Limits of detections (LODs) of the optimized methodologies (in terms of time and pH among other experimental variables) were all below 0.5 mg L^-1, using both instrumental techniques. Furthermore, for the first time, the HBA-aldehyde derivatives were analyzed by LC with mass spectrometry (LC-MS), demonstrating the possibility of identification by MS of each compound. The developed methodologies were also successfully applied in the analysis of formaldehyde and acetaldehyde in several alcoholic beverages. This was also the first time GDME was combined with CE, showing that it can be a valuable sample preparation tool for electrophoresis, in particular by eliminating the interference of ions and inorganic constituents present in the samples.

Current trends in sample preparation for cosmetic analysis

The widespread applications of cosmetics in modern life make their analysis particularly important from a safety point of view. There is a wide variety of restricted ingredients and prohibited substances that primarily influence the safety of cosmetics. Sample preparation for cosmetic analysis is a crucial step as the complex matrices may seriously interfere with the determination of target analytes. In this review, some new developments (2010-2016) in sample preparation techniques for cosmetic analysis, including liquid-phase microextraction, solid-phase microextraction, matrix solid-phase dispersion, pressurized liquid extraction, cloud point extraction, ultrasound-assisted extraction, and microwave digestion, are presented. Furthermore, the research and progress in sample preparation techniques and their applications in the separation and purification of allowed ingredients and prohibited substances are reviewed.

Assessing solvent derivatization and carbon dioxide supercritical fluid simultaneous extraction/derivatization of cyprodinil

Derivatization of cyprodinil with different reagents and solvents has been evaluated to improve the GC/MS characterization of this fungicide. After assessing some preliminary acylation and silylation reactions, derivatization with anhydrous heptafluorobutyric anhydride (HFBA) was selected as the best derivatization option for cyprodinil. The HFBA-cyprodinil derivative was clearly identified and characterized by GC/MS (ion-trap). The spectrum of the HFBA derivative of cyprodinil was characterized by the base peak, 252 m/z ion, and two other ions with relative abundances of 5% (224 m/z ion) and 4% (420 m/z molecular ion). Conversion rates in the range of 83-92% were obtained when 0.1-1 μg cyprodinil were derivatized in vial without solvent at 25ºC temperature for 120 min, with 5 μL HFBA and 5 μL pyridine. Simultaneous extraction-derivatization of cyprodinil in supercritical carbon dioxide was only achieved when no modifier was present, but conversion/recovery rates obtained in the replicate experiments carried out with 15 mL supercritical carbon dioxide at 50°C and 200 atm (n = 5), 300 atm (n = 7), and 400 atm (n = 5) were no reproducible (RSD > 50%) and ranged between 10% and 45% (related to the signal obtained for derivatization in vial).