Ionic liquids in capillary electrophoresis analysis of proteins and carbohydrates

Ionic liquids (ILs), as non-molecular type solvents, possess excellent physical-chemical properties, which make them useful in important separation applications in gas chromatography, liquid chromatography, and capillary electrophoresis. Among a plethora of potential uses of ionic liquids in separation science, capillary electrophoresis can utilize its resolution-enhancing effect in the analysis of proteins and carbohydrates, via the formation of intermolecular interactions, e.g., hydrophobic, hydrogen bonding, or electrostatic. ILs and polymeric ionic liquids (PIL) also represent an excellent choice as background electrolyte (BGE) additives for capillary coatings in CE, which is especially important in protein analysis. Another interesting utilization of ILs is the fabrication of monoliths for capillary electrochromatography in which instance the mechanism of retention is based on ion exclusion interactions. Carbohydrates can also be readily analyzed by CE with the help of ionic liquids without the need for an extra derivatization step. One of the future perspectives on the use of ILs is their utilization in the recently emerging biopharmaceutical industry exploiting the increased resolution of proteins and carbohydrates, two of the important components of glycoprotein therapeutics. In this paper, we address the so-far not-reviewed ionic liquid-mediated analysis of proteins and carbohydrates by capillary electrophoresis-based techniques also addressing their impact on the separation mechanism.

Hydrogen bonds-triggered differential extraction efficiencies for bifenthrin by three polymeric ionic liquids with varying anions based on FT-IR spectroscopy

Herein, we fabricated three imidazolium-based polymeric ionic liquids (PILs) with different anions (P[VEIM]BF4, P[VEIM]PF6 and P[VEIM]Br), and analyzed their differential extraction efficiencies for bifenthrin through H-bonding induced effects. Three PILs all presented an irregular block structure with rough surface and lower specific-surface area (SSA, 11.2-18.7 m2 g-1) than carbon-based nanomaterials. They formed hydrogen bonds with free-water molecules in the lattice of PILs, including C2,4,5-H⋯O-H, Br⋯H-O-H⋯Br, O-H⋯Br, C2,4,5-H⋯F-P, P-F⋯H-O-H⋯F-P, C2,4,5-H⋯F-B and B-F⋯H-O-H⋯F-B. After extraction, the O-H stretching-vibration peak was prominently intensified, whereas the C-H bond varied slightly concomitant with reduced B-F and P-F vibration. Theoretically, the C-H vibration should become more intense in the C4,5-H⋯H2O and C2-H⋯H2O bonds after extraction in contrast to before extraction. These contrary spectral changes demonstrated that the hydrogen bonds between cations in the PILs and free-water molecules were broken after extraction, yielding the H-bonding occurrence between bifenthrin and H-O-H in the lattice. As a time indicator for the free-water binding and releasing process, the highest slope for the plot of I t /I 0 against time implied that the shortest time was required for P[VEIM]PF6 to reach an adsorption equilibrium. Overall, the strong hydrophobicity, small SSA and electrostatic-repulsion force for P[VEIM]PF6 are all not conducive to its efficient adsorption. Beyond our anticipation, P[VEIM]PF6 provided the highest extraction recovery for bifenthrin up to 92.4% among three PILs. Therefore, these data lead us to posit that the above high efficiency results from the strongest H-bonding effect between P[VEIM]PF6 and bifenthrin. These findings promote our deep understanding of PILs-triggered differential efficiency through a H-bonding induced effect.

Ionic liquids in electrokinetic chromatography

There is an interest in the application of ionic liquids as additives into the separation media to improve achiral and chiral separations in electrokinetic chromatography (EKC). This review will critically discuss the developments on the use of ionic liquids in the different modes of EKC during the last five years (2015-mid 2020). A healthy number of 48 research articles searched through Scopus were categorised into two: ionic liquids as sole pseudophase (micelles, microemulsions, ligand exchange pseudophase or molecular pseudophase) and ionic liquids with pseudophase (achiral or chiral). More than half of the papers dealt with chiral separations that were mostly facilitated by another additive or pseudophase. The role of ionic liquids for improvement of separations were analysed, and we provided some recommendations for further investigations. Finally, the use of ionic liquids in different on-line sample concentration or stacking methods (i.e., field enhancement and sweeping) was briefly discussed.

Separation and indirect ultraviolet detection of ferrous and trivalent iron ions by using ionic liquids in ion chromatography

A method of simultaneous separation and indirect ultraviolet detection of different valence iron ions Fe²⁺ and Fe³⁺ by using ionic liquids as mobile phase additives and ultraviolet absorption reagents on a cation exchange column functionalized with carboxylic acid group was developed. The effects of ionic liquids, organic acids, detection wavelength, etc. on separation and detection of Fe²⁺ and Fe³⁺ were investigated and the mechanism was discussed. The pyridinium and imidazolium ionic liquids were not only ultraviolet absorption reagents of indirect ultraviolet detection but also effective components for separating Fe²⁺ and Fe³⁺ . The separation and detection of Fe²⁺ and Fe³⁺ can be achieved using 0.5 mmol/L pyridinium ionic liquid-1.2 mmol/L methanesulfonic acid as the mobile phase. The determination of Fe²⁺ and Fe³⁺ had a good linear relationship in the concentration range of 1-100 mg/L. The limits of detection of Fe²⁺ and Fe³⁺ were 0.12 and 0.09 mg/L, respectively. This method was applied to the actual sample detection in the field of medical analysis. The spiked recoveries were between 97.3 and 99.5%, and the relative standard deviations were less than 0.6%. The method is simple, accurate, and reliable, and is an analytical method with universal and practical value.

Fundamental Properties of Packing Materials for Liquid Chromatography

The high performance of chemically-modified silica gel packing materials is based on the utilization of pure silica gels. Earlier silica gels used to be made from inorganic silica; however, nowadays, silica gels are made from organic silanes. The surface smoothness and lack of trace metals of new silica gels permits easy surface modifications (chemical reactions) and improves the reproducibility and stability. Sharpening peak symmetry is based on developing better surface modification methods (silylation). Typical examples can be found in the chromatography of amitriptyline for silanol testing and that of quinizarin for trace metal testing. These test compounds were selected and demonstrated sensitive results in the measurement of trace amounts of either silanol or trace metals. Here, we demonstrate the three-dimensional model chemical structures of bonded-phase silica gels with surface electron density for easy understanding of the molecular interaction sites with analytes. Furthermore, a quantitative explanation of hydrophilic and hydrophobic liquid chromatographies was provided. The synthesis methods of superficially porous silica gels and their modified products were introduced.

Enantioseparation by Capillary Electrophoresis Using Ionic Liquids as Chiral Selectors

Capillary electrophoresis (CE) is one of the most widely employed analytical techniques to achieve enantiomeric separations. In spite of the fact that there are many chiral selectors commercially available to perform enantioseparations by CE, one of the most relevant topics in this field is the search for new selectors capable of providing high enantiomeric resolutions. Chiral ionic liquids (CILs) have interesting characteristics conferring them a high potential in chiral separations although only some of them are commercially available. The aim of this article is to review all the works published on the use of CILs as chiral selectors in the development of enantioselective methodologies by CE, covering the period from 2006 (when the first research work on this topic was published) to 2017. The use of CILs as sole chiral selectors, as chiral selectors in dual systems or as chiral ligands will be considered. This review also provides detailed analytical information on the experimental conditions used to carry out enantioseparations in different fields as well as on the separation mechanism involved.

Chiral pyrrolidinium salts derived from menthol as precursor – synthesis and properties

Six new chiral pyrolidinium salts with chiral substituent at quaternary nitrogen atom were synthesized with high overall yields from (-)-menthol as cheap chiral precursor and were identified by NMR and HRMS spectroscopy. It was shown that anion type had the effect on chemical shift of protons adjacent to quaternary nitrogen atom and physical properties of these salts. Salts with NTf2 or NPf2 were in a liquid state at room temperature and characterized with the highest thermal stability among others. Furthermore, chiral ionic liquid with NTf2 anion was used as solvent in Diels-Alder reaction and gave higher yield and stereoselectivity than in ionic liquids with achiral cations. Synthesized chiral salts have the potential as chiral solvents in synthesis and auxiliaries in analytical methods to improve chiral recognition.