Separation of Inorganic Anions Using an 18-Crown-6-ether-modified Organic Polymer Monolithic Stationary Phase in Capillary Ion Chromatography

Separation of inorganic anions on reversed-phase C18 columns with a phosphomolybdate mobile phase

Reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) is the most widely used chromatographic method. In addition to hydrophobic interactions, additional interactions such as electrostatic interactions may participate in the retention behaviour of an analyte. This makes it possible to use RP-HPLC for many types of analyte. We describe a simple method for separating inorganic anions on a C18 column, in which retention of inorganic anions is almost entirely due to electrostatic interactions. This leads to rapid separations as well as higher theoretical plate numbers. We used 2 mM phosphoric acid containing a low concentration of disodium molybdate as the mobile phase, which allows UV detection of non-UV-absorbing anions. With this method, we determined eight inorganic anions including several non-UV-absorbing anions photometrically at 220 nm. The detection limits of the examined eight inorganic anions calculated at a signal-to-noise ratio of 3 were between 0.3 and 10 μM. The detector response was linear over three orders of magnitude of inorganic anion concentration. The proposed RP-HPLC/UV method was successfully applied to determine inorganic anions in some water samples.

Synthetic Modifications of a Pb2+-Sensor Acridono-Crown Ether for Covalent Attachment and Their Effects on Selectivity

Because of environmental impact, there is a great need for chemosensors, especially for toxic heavy metals such as lead. The conventional instrumental analytical techniques rarely provide an available real-time sensing platform, thus the development of highly selective and stable synthetic chemosensor molecules is of great importance. Acridono-18-crown-6 ethers have such properties, and much research has proven their outstanding applicability in various supramolecular devices. In this present work, we aimed to enable their covalent immobilization capability by synthesizing functionalized derivatives while preserving the favored molecular recognition ability. Several new macrocycle analogues were synthesized, while synthetization difficulties and design aspects were also dealt with. The selectivity of the macrocycle analogues was studied using UV-Vis spectroscopy and compared with that of the parent compounds. The ultimate crown ether derivative showed high Pb2+-selectivity, reversibility (decomplexation by extraction with water) and stability.

Mixed-mode chromatographic performance using nicotinic acid-functionalized chito-oligosaccharide-bonded Ti/Si hybrid monolithic capillary columns

This article describes the fabrication of porous nicotinic acid-functionalized chito-oligosaccharide-bonded titania/silica hybrid monoliths (TiO2/SiO2@ChO-N) through a co-gelation sol-gel process. A capillary monolith with a well-defined and homogeneous structure was obtained by controlling the hydrolysis speed of titanium alkoxides in a sol mixture by using glycerol and acetylacetone. As a result of the functionalization with chito-oligosaccharides (ChO)-modified nicotinic acid, the obtained stationary phase provides superior physiochemical properties, such as a cationic hydrophilic surface, porosity, and mechanical strength. Scanning electron microscope and attenuated total reflectance-infrared spectroscopy were used to characterize the functionalized monolithic columns. The produced capillary columns showed high chromatographic performance with acceptable selectivity for charged analytes as well as organic polar compounds such as nucleic bases, nucleosides, carbamate pesticides, and strobilurin fungicides. The obtained results also indicated that the functionalized ChO's amino, amide, hydroxyl, and pyridinium ring moieties served as hydrophilic electrostatic traps for charged substances, in addition to stroing π-π interaction with the carbamate pesticides and strobilurin fungicides analytes via hydrogen bonding.

Mass-spectrometric determination of iodine-129 using O2-CO2 mixed-gas reaction in inductively coupled plasma tandem quadrupole mass spectrometry

This paper presents a mass-spectrometric method for determining the radionuclide iodine-129 (¹²⁹I) from the significant amount of interference in inductively coupled plasma tandem quadrupole mass spectrometry (ICP-MS/MS) using a dynamic reaction cell passing a mixture gas of O₂ and CO₂. Thus far, mass spectrometry analysis of trace amounts of ¹²⁹I has been hampered by the presence of xenon-129 (¹²⁹Xe) and the formation of polyatomic ions from excess amounts of stable isotope ¹²⁷I. In this study, flowing a mixture gas of O₂ and CO₂ into the dynamic reaction cell (Q2) successfully removed both ¹²⁹Xe interference and polyatomic interference (¹²⁷IH₂) in the analysis of ¹²⁹I in ICP-MS/MS. The resulting ratio of (background noise of m/z 129)/¹²⁷I was 4.6 × 10^-10 ± 3.3 × 10^-10, which enables the analysis of 10 mBq/L of ¹²⁹I in the presence of 100 mg/L of stable ¹²⁷I without chemical separation. The detection limit of this method was 0.73 mBq/L (= 0.11 ng/L) with an APEX-Q sample inlet desolvation device. For demonstration purposes, spike and recovery analysis of rainwater was performed, and good agreement between the spiked and recovered amounts was achieved.

Poly(ethylene glycol) Methyl Ether Methacrylate-bonded Stationary Phase in Ion Chromatography and Its Application to Seawater Samples

A fast and simple ion chromatographic method for the determination of iodide in seawater is reported using poly(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate-bonded stationary phase. Poly(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate was reacted with primary amino groups of aminopropylsilica in N,N-dimethylformamide at 80°C. The prepared stationary phases were evaluated by analyzing several inorganic anions and the retention behavior was observed. Various chromatographic parameters were optimized for the separation of these anions. Although there were no ion-exchange sites on the resulted stationary phases, the results obtained suggested that an ion-exchange mechanism was involved in the retention of analyte anions. With 0.15 μL injection, the limit of quantitation of iodide was 26 μg L^-1 when 200 mM NaCl was selected as the eluent. This stationary phase was applied to the analysis of direct and fast determination of iodide in real seawater samples successfully with the recovery rates of 98.1 and 104.9%.