Preparative Liquid Chromatography of Pharmaceuticals Using Silica Gel with Aqueous Eluents

Bioanalytical liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry methods on underivatized silica columns with aqueous/organic mobile phases

This review article summarizes the recent progress on bioanalytical LC-MS/MS methods using underivatized silica columns and aqueous/organic mobile phases. Various types of polar analytes were extracted by using protein precipitation (PP), liquid/liquid extraction (LLE) or solid-phase extraction (SPE) and were then analyzed using LC-MS/MS on the silica columns. Use of silica columns and aqueous/organic mobile phases could significantly enhance LC-MS/MS method sensitivity, due to the high organic content in the mobile phase. Thanks to the very low backpressure generated from the silica column with low aqueous/high organic mobile phases, LC-MS/MS methods at high flow rates are feasible, resulting in significant timesaving. Because organic solvents have weaker eluting strength than water, direct injection of the organic solvent extracts from the reversed-phase solid-phase extraction onto the silica column was possible. Gradient elution on the silica columns using aqueous/organic mobile phases was also demonstrated. Contrary to what is commonly perceived, the silica column demonstrated superior column stability. This technology can be a valuable supplement to the reversed-phase LC-MS/MS.

Photodegradation kinetics under UV light of aztreonam solutions

A photodegradation study of aztreonam solutions exposed to UV irradiation showed that the major product of degradation was the anti-isomer together with some unidentified products. This result was similar to that obtained with cefotaxime and it is postulated that this would be generally true of compounds containing an alkoxyimino group.