Untargeted profiling of Glycyrrhiza glabra extract with comprehensive two-dimensional liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry using multi-segmented shift gradients in the second dimension: Expanding the metabolic coverage.

Metabolic profiling of Glycyrrhiza glabra using comprehensive two-dimensional liquid chromatography (LC × LC) coupled with photodiode array (PDA) and mass spectrometry (MS) detection is described. The separation was conducted under reversed-phase conditions, using a combination of first dimension (1 D) 150 mm microbore cyano column utilising 2.7 µm diameter (dp ) particles, and second dimension (2 D) 50 mm superficially porous octadecylsilica column with 2.7 µm dp particles. A multi-segmented shift gradient (MSG) for the 2 D separation was developed, and the orthogonality achieved was compared with other modes of gradients, such as full in-fraction, and shift gradient systems. Results demonstrated a significant expansion of metabolic coverage using MSG in 2 D, providing the highest measure of orthogonality compared to other gradient modes. Compound identifications were performed by employing complementary data from PDA and MS detection, with reference to structural group-type distribution in 2D space. A total of ca. 120 compounds were detected, and among them 37 were tentatively identified, distributed over the chemical families of glycosylated flavanones, triterpene saponins, and others. In comparison with one-dimensional LC, the total number of compounds detected was ca. 2-fold greater when LC × LC was employed. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of the MSG mode in LC × LC, representing a powerful strategy to expand the metabolic coverage for analysis of plant-derived extracts, containing a multitude of different phytochemical classes.

Impact of Amino Acids on the Isomerization of the Aluminum Tridecamer Al13.

The stability of the Keggin polycation ε-Al13 is monitored by 27Al NMR and ferron colorimetric assay upon heating aluminum aqueous solutions containing different amino acids with overall positive, negative, or no charge at pH 4.2. A focus on the effect of the amino acids on the isomerization process from ε- to δ-Al13 is made, compared and discussed as a function of the type of organic additive. Amino acids such as glycine and ß-alanine, with only one functional group interacting relatively strongly with aluminum polycations, accelerate isomerization in a concentration-dependent manner. The effect of this class of amino acids is also found increasing with the pKa of their carboxylic acid moiety, from a low impact from proline up to more than a 15-fold increased rate from the stronger binders such as glycine or ß-alanine. Amino acids with relatively low C-terminal pKa, but bearing additional potential binding moieties such as free alcohol (hydroxyl group) moiety of serine or the amide of glutamine, speed the isomerization comparatively and even more than glycine or ß-alanine, glutamine leading to the fastest rates observed so far. With aspartic and glutamic acids, changes in aluminum speciation are faster and significant even at room temperature but rather related to the reorganization toward slow reacting complexed oligomers than to the Al13 isomerization process. The linear relation between the apparent rate constant of isomerization and the additive concentration points to a first-order process with respect to the additives. Most likely, the dominant process is an accelerated ε-Al13 dissociation, increasing the probability of δ isomer formation.