Gradient elution reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography for fractionation of complex mixtures of organic micropollutants according to hydrophobicity using isocratic retention parameters

Determination of n-octanol/water partition coefficient for DDT-related compounds by RP-HPLC with a novel dual-point retention time correction

n-Octanol/water partition coefficients (P) for DDTs and dicofol were determined by reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) on a C(18) column using methanol-water mixture as mobile phase. A dual-point retention time correction (DP-RTC) was proposed to rectify chromatographic retention time (t(R)) shift resulted from stationary phase aging. Based on this correction, the relationship between logP and logk(w), the logarithm of the retention factor extrapolated to pure water, was investigated for a set of 12 benzene homologues and DDT-related compounds with reliable experimental P as model compounds. A linear regression logP=(1.10±0.04) logk(w) - (0.60±0.17) was established with correlation coefficient R(2) of 0.988, cross-validated correlation coefficient R(cv)(2) of 0.983 and standard deviation (SD) of 0.156. This model was further validated using four verification compounds, naphthalene, biphenyl, 2,2-bis(4-chlorophenyl)-1,1-dichloroethane (p,p'-DDD) and 2,2-bis(4-chlorophenyl)-1,1-dichloroethene (p,p'-DDE) with similar structure to DDT. The RP-HPLC-determined P values showed good consistency with shake-flask (SFM) or slow-stirring (SSM) results, especially for highly hydrophobic compounds with logP in the range of 4-7. Then, the P values for five DDT-related compounds, 2-(2-chlorophenyl)-2-(4-chlorophenyl)-1,1,1-trichloroethane (o,p'-DDT), 2-(2-chlorophenyl)-2-(4-chlorophenyl)-1,1-dichloroethane (o,p'-DDD), 2-(2-chlorophenyl)-2-(4-chlorophenyl)-1,1-dichloroethene (o,p'-DDE), and 2,2,2-trichloro-1,1-bis(4-chlorophenyl)ethanol (dicofol) and its main degradation product 4,4'-dichlorobenzophenone (p,p'-DBP) were evaluated by the improved RP-HPLC method for the first time. The excellent precision with SD less than 0.03 proved that the novel DP-RTC protocol can significantly increases the determination accuracy and reliability of P by RP-HPLC.

Ecotoxicological environmental risk limits for total petroleum hydrocarbons on the basis of internal lipid concentrations

A method is described for deriving ecotoxicological environmental risk limits (ERLs) for total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH). Toxicity data for two oil types (light and heavy) to benthic organisms and corresponding estimated internal lipid concentrations, calculated by equilibrium partitioning, are used as a measure of toxicity by narcosis. It is assumed that uptake by organisms takes place from the aqueous phase, and for partitioning, both oil droplets or coating and organic carbon of sediment are taken into account. To distinguish between the different fractions of TPH, the method used is based on a fraction analysis approach in which aliphatic and aromatic compounds are regarded separately and both are further divided into different fractions. A toxic unit approach is applied to these fractions to take additivity into account. Lethality of the lighter oil type (internal concentration 28-204 mmol/Llipid) was in good agreement with data on internal concentrations retrieved from the literature. For the heavier oil type the observed toxicity was slightly higher and can probably be attributed to physical soiling of the organisms by oil or oxygen depletion due to biodegradation of the oil. For deriving ERLs, chronic endpoints are considered. The most sensitive chronic endpoints appear to be similar for both types of oil. The distribution of estimated total internal concentrations for chronic endpoints (1.38-149 mmol/Llipid) is used as a basis for the ERLs. The resulting ERLs for the mixture of TPH are comparable with ERLs for single compounds.

Estrogenic and dioxin-like compounds in sediment from Zierikzee harbour identified with CALUX assay-directed fractionation combined with one and two dimensional gas chromatography analyses

The identity of compounds responsible for estrogenic and dioxin-like activities in sediment from the harbour of the small town Zierikzee in Zeeland, The Netherlands, was investigated using a bioassay directed fractionation approach with the in vitro estrogen and dioxin responsive reporter gene assays ER- and DR-CALUX. For identification of compounds exhibiting activity in the bioassays, either one or two-dimensional GC in combination with quadrupole (MSD), ion trap (ITD) or time-of-flight mass spectrometric detection (ToF-MS) was used, depending on the biological and chemical characteristics and the complexity of the fractions. The natural estrogenic hormone 17-beta-estradiol and its metabolite estrone were identified with GC-ITD as the main contributors to the estrogenic activity. After successive rounds of fractionation, the dioxin-like activity could be explained by the presence of various polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons identified with GC-MSD and two-dimensional comprehensive GC x GC-ToF-MS. Some estrogenic activity of a relatively non-polar nature remained unidentified.

Controlling the retention in capillary LC with solvents, temperature, and electric fields

Once a suitable stationary phase and column dimensions have been selected, the retention in liquid chromatography (LC) is traditionally adjusted by controlling the mobile phase composition. Solvent gradients enable achievement of good separation selectivity while decreasing the separation time as compared to isocratic elution. Capillary columns allow use of other programming parameters, i.e. temperature and applied electric fields, in addition to solvent gradient elution. This paper presents a review of programmed separation techniques in miniaturized LC, including retention modeling and method transfer from the conventional to micro- and capillary scales. The impact of miniaturized instrumentation on retention and the limitations of capillary LC are discussed. Special attention is focused on the gradient dwell volume effects, which are more important in micro-LC techniques than in conventional analytical LC and may cause significant increase in the time of analysis, unless special instrumentation and (or) pre-column flow-splitting is used. The influence of temperature upon retention is also discussed, and applications where the temperature has been actively used for retention control in capillary LC are included together with the instrumentation utilized. Finally the possibilities of additional selectivity control by applying an electric field over a packed capillary LC column are discussed.

Evaluation of mixture effects in a crude extract of compost using the CALUX bioassay and HPLC fractionation

Potential synergistic interactions between polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in a household sewage sludge compost extract were investigated using the Dioxin-Responsive Chemical-Activated Luciferase gene eXpression (DR-CALUX) assay and reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) fractionation. The biological activity of the crude extract was measured in vitro using the CALUX assay. The CALUX activity of the extract was as potent as 360-pg CALUX-TEQ (2,3,7,8-TCDD equivalent value) per g sample, this was 70 times above the WHO-TEQ value which was derived from chemical analyses of dioxins/furans and dioxin-like PCBs of the mixture. The CALUX activity pattern of the crude extract and the retention times of 26 polycyclic aromatic compounds (PACs), as determined by RP-HPLC on an octadecylsilica column, suggested that the dioxin-like compounds with the log K(OW) (n-octanol/water partition coefficient) values corresponding to 6.0-7.0 contributed highly to the whole activity. The CALUX activity of the crude extract was three times the sum of the CALUX activities of the RP-HPLC separated fractions. Mixture effects were assessed by co-exposure of each HPLC fraction and 2,3,7,8-TCDD to the cells. The four concentration levels of added 2,3,7,8-TCDD corresponded to the TEQ value in the original compost sample. The experimental CALUX activity was higher than the predicted CALUX activity for some fractions. It was demonstrated that some compounds in the compost sample interacted synergistically with 2,3,7,8-TCDD in terms of dioxin-like activity. This finding points out the necessity for detailed investigation of synergistic effects in environmental samples.

Separation methods for estimating octanol-water partition coefficients

Separation methods for the indirect estimation of the octanol-water partition coefficient (logP) are reviewed with an emphasis on high throughput methods with a wide application range. The solvation parameter model is used to identify suitable separation systems for estimating logP in an efficient manner that negates the need for empirical trial and error experiments. With a few exceptions, systems based on reversed-phase chromatography employing chemically bonded phases are shown to be unsuitable for estimating logP for compounds of diverse structure. This is because the fundamental properties responsible for chromatographic retention tend to be different to those responsible for partition between octanol and water, especially the contribution from hydrogen bonding interactions. On the other hand, retention in several micellar and microemulsion electrokinetic chromatography systems is shown to be highly correlated with the octanol-water partition coefficient. These systems are suitable for the rapid, high throughput determination of logP for neutral, weakly acidic, and weakly basic compounds. For compounds with a permanent charge, electrophoretic migration and electrostatic interactions with the stationary phase results in inaccurate estimation of partition coefficients. The experimental determination of solute descriptors offers an alternative approach for estimating logP, and other biopartitioning properties. A distinct advantage of this approach is that once the solute descriptors are known, solute properties can be estimated for any distribution or transport system for which a solvation parameter model has been established.

Application of different RP-HPLC methods for the determination of the octanol/water partition coefficient of selected tetrachlorobenzyltoluenes

Reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) in both, isocratic and gradient elution mode (stationary phase: LiChrospher 100 RP-18; mobile phase: water/methanol or water/acetonitrile) was used for a renewed determination of octanol/water partition coefficients (Kow) of selected tetrachlorobenzyltoluene (TCBT) isomers. Reported Kow values identify this substance class as very hydrophobic but the data are relatively inconsistent. Based on a series of calibration runs with hydrophobic reference substances of different chemical structure at various eluent compositions we tested different approaches for the evaluation of isocratic retention factors (logk) and found substantial differences between the direct calibration procedure at special methanol volume fractions in the mobile phase (0.95-0.80) and the use of retention factors extrapolated to pure water as eluent (logkw). The logKow values obtained for the TCBTs with the latter approach are around 0.5 units higher and closer to literature data. The gradient elution experiments yield slightly better results compared to the isocratic direct calibration procedure, but not as good as the calibration with log kw. In addition, the use of the RP-HPLC retention factors for estimating sorption coefficients (Koc) of TCBT isomers is discussed.

Optimization methods in chromatography and capillary electrophoresis

Many methods have been developed in order to optimize the parameters of interest in either chromatography or capillary electrophoresis. In chemometric approaches experimental measurements are performed in such a way that all factors vary together. An objective function is utilized in which the analyst introduces the desired criteria (selectivity, resolution, time of analysis). Simplex methods and overlapping resolution maps are declining. Factorial designs and central composite designs are more and more popular in electrodriven capillary separations since the number of parameters to master is much larger than in either GC or LC. The use of artificial neural networks is increasing. The advantage of chemometrics tools is that no explicit models are required, conversely the number of experiments to perform may be high and boundaries of the domain are not straightforward to draw and the approach does more than is required. When models are available optimization is easier to perform by regression methods. Computer assisted methods in RPLC are readily available and work well but are still in infancy in CE. Linear solvation energy relationships seem a very valuable tool but estimates of coefficients still require many experiments.