Separation of cationic technetium-99m amine complexes on porous graphitic carbon

Mass spectrometry-based plant metabolomics: Metabolite responses to abiotic stress

Metabolomics is one omics approach that can be used to acquire comprehensive information on the composition of a metabolite pool to provide a functional screen of the cellular state. Studies of the plant metabolome include analysis of a wide range of chemical species with diverse physical properties, from ionic inorganic compounds to biochemically derived hydrophilic carbohydrates, organic and amino acids, and a range of hydrophobic lipid-related compounds. This complexitiy brings huge challenges to the analytical technologies employed in current plant metabolomics programs, and powerful analytical tools are required for the separation and characterization of this extremely high compound diversity present in biological sample matrices. The use of mass spectrometry (MS)-based analytical platforms to profile stress-responsive metabolites that allow some plants to adapt to adverse environmental conditions is fundamental in current plant biotechnology research programs for the understanding and development of stress-tolerant plants. In this review, we describe recent applications of metabolomics and emphasize its increasing application to study plant responses to environmental (stress-) factors, including drought, salt, low oxygen caused by waterlogging or flooding of the soil, temperature, light and oxidative stress (or a combination of them). Advances in understanding the global changes occurring in plant metabolism under specific abiotic stress conditions are fundamental to enhance plant fitness and increase stress tolerance. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Mass Spec Rev 35:620-649, 2016.

Application of Carbonaceous Materials in Separation Science

Porous carbons in the separation sciences occupy an important niche owing to their unique retention characteristics, chemical stability and the ability to control pore structure through template strategies. However, these same synthetic processes utilise oil-based carbonising resins and high temperature, energy-intensive pyrolysis steps to ensure the carbon product has pore-size regularity, minimal micropore content and homogeneous surface chemistry. This chapter will primarily focus on the development of porous carbons for application as chromatographic stationary phases. Discussion will cover the unique characteristics of the porous carbon retention mechanism and its application in separating a broad range of analyte classes. The chapter then moves on to describe the current disadvantages in the manufacture of commercially available carbon phase and then highlight recent efforts aimed at the development of alternative porous carbon stationary phases derived from sustainable carbon precursors.

Wheat digalactosyldiacylglycerol molecular species profiling using porous graphitic carbon stationary phase

The potential of porous graphitic carbon stationary phase (PGC) was assessed for the separation of molecular species of digalactosyldiacylglycerol (DGDG). Detection was by an evaporative light scattering detector (ELSD). A conventional optimization strategy allowed definition of a quaternary non-aqueous mobile phase and separation of 9 wheat DGDG molecular species with isocratic elution: methanol/toluene/tetrahydrofuran/chloroform 64.3/21.5/13.7/0.5 v/v with 0.1% of triethylamine and a stoichiometric amount of formic acid. The molecular species were identified by LC/MS. The chromatographic behavior of DGDG on PGC was then compared to previous studies. The addition of a carbon double bond on the alkyl chain decreased the retention. This contribution was less important when the number of unsaturations increased in the alkyl chain. The consequence of this retention behavior with PGC was an elution order of molecular species which did not agree with the partition number as observed with C18 grafted stationary phases.

Retention behaviour of unsaturated fatty acid methyl esters on porous graphitic carbon

The eluotropic strength of binary mobile phases was calculated for three homologous series of cis, trans, and cis-cis unsaturated fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs). Binary mobile phases with chloroform, dichloromethane, or tetrahydrofuran as strong solvent and methanol or acetonitrile as weak solvent were tested. The volume fraction of strong solvent in the binary phases was between 0.3 and 0.8. Curves of eluotropic strength versus volume fraction of strong solvents showed similar trends to previously published results for saturated homologues. Correlation coefficients of the plots of eluotropic strength values for saturated versus unsaturated FAMEs were close to 1.0. Therefore these similarities validate the model of eluotropic strength previously established with saturated FAMEs as relevant for unsaturated FAMEs. The separation factors between cis and trans homologues always showed elution of the cis before the trans homologue. The difference in retention is due primarily to the geometry of the molecule. The retention is lowered more by the addition of a first carbon double bond than by the addition of a second one, independently of the mobile phase composition.

Retention characteristics and practical applications of carbon sorbents

Reversed-phase separations provides a versatile technique in high-performance liquid chromatography. Porous graphitized carbon (PGC) support shows unique retention characteristics. Separations on PGC columns use typical reversed-phase eluents (water and organic modifiers miscible with water), however, the retention order of solutes generally does not follow their hydrophobicity order. Molecular hydrophobicity influences but not determines the elution order of any set of solutes. The properties of these supports, mechanisms of retention and application are discussed, along with correlations which can guide the choice of solvent combinations for typical separations.

Porous graphitic carbon as stationary phase for LC-ICPMS separation of arsenic compounds in water

A new liquid chromatographic separation method was developed for the speciation of the four main arsenic compounds present in water. Arsenite (As(III)), dimethylarsinic acid (DMA), monomethylarsonic acid (MMA) and arsenate (As(V)) were separated on a recently introduced stationary phase: porous graphitic carbon (PGC). The separation was first obtained under formic acid gradient conditions, but an adsorption phenomenon of As(V) on PGC was observed. To overcome this problem, As(V) was backflushed, and an efficient separation of the four solutes was achieved within 10 min. Extremely low detection limits (ranging from 10 to 70 ng x L(-1)) were obtained by coupling LC with an ICPMS. The method was successfully applied to different spiked mineral waters and a naturally arsenic-containing freshwater.

Separation of anionic and cationic compounds of biomedical interest by high-performance liquid chromatography on porous graphitic carbon

The separation of small, ionizable compounds of biomedical interest on porous graphitic carbon is described. The retention of anionic compounds is dominated by electronic interaction between the solute and the delocalized electron clouds on the graphitized carbon, while cationic compounds are mainly retained by reversed-phase interaction with the hydrophobic carbon surface. Anionic and cationic compounds can be separated simultaneously with a mobile phase containing an electronic modifier (e.g., trifluoroacetic acid) and an organic modifier (e.g., acetonitrile) for elution. Examples of applications include the measurement of oxalic acid in urine, the determination of creatine and creatinine in urine and in serum, the separation of basic drugs (remoxipride and FLA 981) and the simultaneous analysis of pertechnetate anion and the cationic technetium-amine complexes.