Liquid chromatography-Fourier transform infrared spectrometric determination of cholesterol in animal greases

Procedure for automated background correction in flow systems with infrared spectroscopic detection and changing liquid-phase composition

This paper describes a partial least squares (PLS) based automatic procedure to correct for changes in the spectral contribution of the solvent or solvent mixtures from solute spectra recorded in these solvents. The procedure was developed for successful on-line Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) detection in gradient high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) separations. It requires a reference FT-IR data set containing all possible combinations of the expected variation in solvent composition. Furthermore, a spectral region (A) in these spectra is required where the solvents show absorption but the analytes do not. This is the case for the system ACN:H(2)O, an often-applied solvent mixture in gradient HPLC, in the spectral region from 2300-2400 cm(-1). By focusing on (A) the developed numerical method selects an appropriate background spectrum from the reference data set, which is then subtracted from the analyte spectra. The method was programmed in Matlab and tested on different isocratic and gradient on-line reversed phase liquid chromatography-Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (LC-FT-IR) data sets. This work describes a successful method to perform eluent correction in on-line coupling of FT-IR spectrometry with gradient LC.

Analysis of Quil A–phospholipid mixtures using drift spectroscopy

The aim of this study was to investigate molecular interactions between Quil A and phosphatidylcholine in the solid state using diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier-transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS). Analysis of the interactions was characterized on the different regions of phosphatidylcholine: hydrophobic chain, interfacial and headgroup regions. The spectra of the hydrocarbon region of phosphatidylcholine alone compared to that for the binary mixture of Quil A and phosphatidylcholine were similar. These findings suggest that Quil A did not cause conformational disorder of the fatty acyl chains of the phospholipid. In contrast, a shift in the wavenumber of the choline group and a broad band in this moiety indicate a modification of the phospholipid in the headgroup region due to interaction between Quil A and phosphatidylcholine. These results suggest possibly ionic interactions between the negatively charged glucuronic acid moiety of the Quil A molecule with the positively charged choline group. The findings could also be the result of conformational changes in the choline group because of the intercalation of sugar moieties in Quil A between the choline and phosphate groups due to hydrogen bonding. Shift of wavenumbers to lower values on the carbonyl group was observed suggesting hydrogen bonding between Quil A and phosphatidylcholine. The difference in degrees of wavenumber shift (choline>phosphate>carbonyl group) and observed broad bands indicated that Quil A preferentially interacted with phosphatidylcholine on the hydrophilic headgroup. Cholesterol influenced such interactions at relatively high concentration (60%, w/w).

On-line infrared detection in aqueous micro-volume systems

Mid infrared spectroscopy is a non-destructive technique that can provide detailed information on important, molecule-specific features such as the conformation and functional groups of a large range of compounds. Infrared spectroscopy is now an established and frequently used technique for qualitative analysis, i.e. the identification of chemical constituents in a sample. In addition, its use for quantitative purposes has grown dramatically in recent years. It is important to realise that the analytical problem defines the mode of operation and implementation of the FTIR technique. This Highlight article focuses on the advantages and scope of on-line FTIR detection strategies. However, in common with all techniques, on-line FTIR detection has a number of potential shortcomings, which are also discussed.