Relation of sorption behavior of agricultural chemicals in solid-phase extraction with their n-octanol/water partition coefficients evaluated by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)

Optimization and application of octadecyl-modified monolithic silica for solid-phase extraction of drugs in whole blood samples

Monolithic silica in MonoSpin for solid-phase extraction of drugs from whole blood samples was developed to facilitate high-throughput analysis. Monolithic silica of various pore sizes and octadecyl contents were synthesized, and their effects on recovery rates were evaluated. The silica monolith M18-200 (20μm through-pore size, 10.4nm mesopore size, and 17.3% carbon content) achieved the best recovery of the target analytes in whole blood samples. The extraction proceeded with centrifugal force at 1000rpm for 2min, and the eluate was directly injected into the liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry system without any tedious steps such as evaporation of extraction solvents. Under the optimized condition, low detection limits of 0.5-2.0ngmL^-1 and calibration ranges up to 1000ngmL^-1 were obtained. The recoveries of the target drugs in the whole blood were 76-108% with relative standard deviation of less than 14.3%. These results indicate that the developed method based on monolithic silica is convenient, highly efficient, and applicable for detecting drugs in whole blood samples.

Toxicity test using medaka (Oryzias latipes) early fry and concentrated sample water as an index of aquatic habitat condition

The aim of the present study was to show a relationship between toxicity of 100-fold concentrated water and aquatic habitat conditions. Environmental waters are 100-fold concentrated with solid-phase extraction. Medaka early fry was exposed in these waters for 48 h. The number of death and disorder was counted at 1, 2, 3, 6, 12, 24, and 48 h; toxicity was expressed using inverse median effect time and median lethal time (ET (50)(-1), LT (50)(-1)). Average score per taxon (ASPT) for benthic animals and Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI) for fish were applied as indices of aquatic habitat conditions. The results of toxicity test were compared using ASPT and IBI. The different levels of toxicity were detected in the seawater of Japan. At the Husino River area, toxicity cannot be detected. In rivers, high toxicity appeared at urban districts without sewerage. By Spearman coefficient, the relationship between toxicity and high biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) were obtained. BOD household wastewater contains hydrophobic toxic matters; otherwise, seawater in industrial area does not show clear relationship between toxicity and chemical oxygen demand. Gas chromatography to mass spectrometry simultaneous analysis database may give an answer for the source of toxicity, but further test is required. Ratio of clear stream benthic animal sharply decreased over 0.25 of LT (50)(-1) or 0.5 of ET (50)(-1). Tolerant fish becomes dominant over 0.3 of LT (50)(-1) or 0.5-1.0 of ET (50)(-1). By Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient, correlation coefficient between toxicity and ASPT was obtained at -0.773 (ET (50)(-1)) and -0.742 (LT (50)(-1)) at 1 % level of significance with a high negative correlation. Toxicity (LT (50)(-1) ) has strong correlation with the ratio of tolerant species. By Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient, correlation coefficient between toxicity and IBI obtained were -0.155 (ET (50)(-1)) and -0.190 (LT (50)(-1)) at 1 % level of significance and has a low or no correlation between toxicity and IBI. Even with low toxic environmental waters, toxicity test using 100-fold concentrated and medaka early fly could detect acute toxicity. The detected toxicity seemed to limit the inhabiting aquatic species in the water body.

Evaluating the fish safety level of river water and wastewater with a larval medaka assay

A larval medaka (Oryzias latipes) assay was proposed to evaluate the fish safety level of river waters and wastewaters. Organic toxicants were 10-100 times concentrated with adsorption cartridges from 4 l of river water or 1-10 times concentrated from 400 ml of wastewater. Toxicity of these concentrated solutions was determined by exposing 48-72 h post-hatch age larvae for 48 h. The method effectively revealed a variation of the median lethal concentration ratio (LCR50) from 13 to >100 in 125 river water samples, and from <1 to >10 in five typical wastewater samples. Ayase River, which takes water mostly from agricultural or household discharge, showed significantly (P<0.001) lower LCR50 than Sagami River that takes natural water as the source. Safety Levels in both Sagami River and Ayase River were influenced by the irrigation activity, LCR50 at some sites showing a seasonal-specific decrease in winter. Pollution from pulp and paper industries contributed to the low LCR50 in several tributaries of Ayase River. Required little manpower in sampling, pretreatment and testing, the proposed larval medaka assay was proved as an efficient tool for screening those high risk sites for priority management.

Determination of endocrine-disrupting compounds in cereals by pressurized liquid extraction and liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry

A sensitive method based on pressurized liquid extraction (PLE) and liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS) has been developed for the determination in cereal samples of seven endocrine-disrupting compounds: bisphenol A (BPA), 4-tert-butylbenzoic acid (BBA), 4-nonylphenol (NP), 4-tert-butylphenol (t-BP), 2,4-dichlorophenol (DCP), 2,4,5-trichlorophenol (TCP) and pentachlorophenol (PCP). For the PLE procedure, methanol was selected as the extraction solvent. An experimental design approach was applied to optimize other PLE parameters. The recoveries achieved for the all seven compounds were in the 81-104% range, with relative standard deviations of 4-9%. An additional preconcentration step, based on solid-phase extraction (SPE), after the PLE step proved to be a successful way for obtaining a more sensitive method. The detection limits achieved in corn breakfast cereals were in the 0.003-0.013 microg g(-1) range, except for BPA, with a detection limit of 0.043 microg g(-1), for a sample size of 2.5 g. These values are similar to or even lower than currently legislated limits for pesticides in cereals and cereal-based foodstuffs. We also investigated possible contamination during the experimental process by the target compounds released from purified water, plastics, syringes, peristaltic pump tubes, glassware and other laboratory materials in contact with the samples along the analytical process.

Determination of liquid–liquid partition coefficients by separation methods

By essence, all kinds of chromatographic methods use the partitioning of solutes between a stationary and a mobile phase to separate them. Not surprisingly, separation methods are useful to determine accurately the liquid-liquid distribution constants, commonly called partition coefficient. After briefly recalling the thermodynamics of the partitioning of solutes between two liquid phases, the review lists the different methods of measurement in which chromatography is involved. The shake-flask method is described. The ease of the HPLC method is pointed out with its drawback: the correlation is very sensitive to congeneric effect. Microemulsion electrokinetic capillary electrophoresis has become a fast and reliable method commonly used in industry. Counter-current chromatography (CCC) is a liquid chromatography method that uses a liquid stationary phase. Since the CCC solute retention volumes are only depending on their partition coefficients, it is the method of choice for partition coefficient determination with any liquid system. It is shown that Ko/w, the octanol-water partition coefficients, are obtained by CCC within the -1 < log Ko/w < 4 range, without any correlation or standardization using octanol as the stationary phase. Examples of applications of the knowledge of liquid-liquid partition coefficient in the vast world of solvent extraction and hydrophobicity estimation are presented.