Determination of Steroids in Human Urine by Micellar Liquid Chromatography

Application of Micellar Mobile Phase for Quantification of Sulfonamides in Medicated Feeds by HPLC-DAD

Rapid chromatographic procedure for quantification of five sulfonamides in medicated feeds are proposed. Satisfactory separation of sulfonamides from medicated feeds was achieved using a Zorbax Eclipse XDB C18 column (4.6 × 150 mm, 5 µm particle size) with a micellar mobile phase consisting of 0.05 M sodium dodecyl sulphate, 0.02 M phosphate buffer, and 6% propan-2-ol (pH 3). UV quantitation was set at 260 nm. The proposed procedure allows the determination of sulfaguanidine, sulfadiazine, sulfamerazine, sulfamethazine, and sulfamethoxazole in medicated feeds for pigs and poultry. Application of the proposed method to the analysis of five pharmaceuticals gave recoveries between 72.7% to 94.7% and coefficients of variations for repeatability and reproducibility between 2.9% to 9.8% respectively, in the range of 200 to 2000 mg/kg sulfonamides in feeds. Limit of detection and limit of quantification were 32.7–56.3 and 54.8–98.4 mg/kg, respectively, depending on the analyte. The proposed procedure for the quantification of sulfonamides is simple, rapid, sensitive, free from interferences and suitable for the routine control of feeds. In the world literature, we did not find the described method of quantitative determination of sulfonamides in medicated feeds with the use of micellar liquid chromatography.

Micellar liquid chromatography in doping control

The issue of doping control in sport involves the development of reliable analytical procedures and efficient strategies to process a large number of samples in a short period of time. Reversed-phase LC techniques with aqueous-organic mobile phases and MS or diode-array detection yield satisfactory results for the identification of prohibited substances in sport. However, time-consuming sample pretreatment steps are required, which reduces sample throughput. Micellar LC (MLC) that uses hybrid mobile phases of surfactant above its critical micellar concentration and organic solvent has been revealed as an interesting alternative. The surfactant sodium dodecyl sulfate solubilizes the protein components of urine, serum and plasma, which permits their direct injection into the chromatographic system. Only dilution and filtering of the samples may be required. Most MLC analyses are performed in isocratic mode, with short retention times and good selectivity. The sensitivity of MLC allows the detection of a variety of doping substances at least 24-48 h after being administered.

Therapeutic monitoring of imipramine and desipramine by micellar liquid chromatography with direct injection and electrochemical detection

A micellar liquid chromatographic (MLC) procedure was developed for the clinical monitoring of imipramine and its active metabolite, desipramine. The determination of these highly hydrophobic substances was carried out after direct injection of the serum samples using a mobile phase composed of 0.15 m SDS--6% (v/v) pentanol buffered at pH 7, pumped at 1.5 mL/min into a C(18) column (250 x 4.6 mm), and electrochemical detection at 650 mV. Using this MLC method, calibration was linear (r > 0.995) and the limits of detection (ng/mL) were 0.34 and 0.24 for imipramine and desipramine, respectively. Repeatabilities and intermediate precision were tested at three different concentrations in the calibration range and a CV (%) below 2.2 was obtained. In this MLC procedure, the serum is determined without treatment, thus allowing repeated serial injections without changes in retention factors, and reducing the time and consumables required to carry out the pretreatment process. The assay method can be applied to the routine determination of serum imipramine and its metabolite in therapeutic drug monitoring.

Direct injection of physiological fluids in micellar liquid chromatography

Micellar liquid chromatography (MLC), which uses mobile phases of surfactants above the critical micellar concentration, provides a solution to the direct injection of physiological samples by solubilizing the protein components, and coating the analytical column with surfactant monomers to avoid clogging. A review showing the advantages and limitations of this technique over other chromatographic techniques used in drug analysis, working protocols, and examples of application is presented. The possibility of direct sample introduction simplifies and greatly expedites the treatments with reduced cost, improving the accuracy of the procedures. Surfactant monomers and micelles appear to displace drugs bound to proteins, releasing them for partitioning to the stationary phase. The versatility of MLC encompasses the wide range of drug classes normally monitored, such as analgesics, anticancer drugs, antidepressants, bacteriostats, beta-blockers, bronchodilators, catecholamines, diuretics and steroids, among others. Analytical procedures have been developed in urine, plasma, serum and cow milk samples. Most of them utilize sodium dodecyl sulphate as surfactant and a C18 column. UV detection is usual, but enhanced detection has been reported by measuring the absorbance in the visible region of drug derivatives formed precolumn, and with a variety of other techniques, such as fluorimetry, amperometry, inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry and immunoassay. Column-switching with on-line surfactant-mediated sample clean-up is shown as an attractive enrichment technique, which expands the practical use of MLC beyond the singular dimensional chromatographic process.