Improving green enrichment of virgin olive oil by oregano. Effects on antioxidants.

This work is about improvement of a maceration method in order to achieve a green process for the enrichment of virgin olive oil (VOO) with natural antioxidants, specifically from oregano leaves. This goal was accomplished after evaluating different mechanical methods, i.e. magnetic stirring, sonication, vertical stirring and sonication in combination with vertical stirring, for promoting the extraction of the antioxidants from oregano. The results obtained indicated that the best extraction procedure was vertical stirring at 1000 r.p.m. for 3 h. Therefore, these conditions were selected to enrich VOO with phenolic acids (mainly rosmarinic acid) and endogenous antioxidants (o-coumaric and vanillic acids), and further determine their stability at room temperature or under temperature stress (50°C) during 45 days. Quantitative analysis of rosmarinic, o-coumaric and vanillic acids was carried out by an off-line, solid phase extraction, capillary zone, electrophoresis method combined with diode-array detector (SPE-CE-DAD).

Simultaneous determination of omeprazole and their main metabolites in human urine samples by capillary electrophoresis using electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry detection.

We report a novel method for the simultaneous determination of omeprazole and their main metabolites (omeprazole sulphide, omeprazole sulphone and 5-hydroxy omeprazole) in human urine samples. For this purpose, two new capillary electrophoresis (CE) methods were developed for the simultaneous determination of target compounds, using initially diode-array for optical detection and electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) for metabolites identification and identity confirmation. A new metabolite (5-hydroxysulphide omeprazole) was identified by electrospray ionization multi-stage mass spectrometry (ESI-MS2) fragment which was then used to support the proposed chemical structure. Pharmacokinetic results using CE method were compared with those obtained when a HPLC method was used. Equivalent pharmacokinetics profiles resulted when any analytical methods were carried out.

Advantages of using a modified orthogonal sampling configuration originally designed for LC-ESI-MS to couple CE and MS for the determination of antioxidant phenolic compounds found in virgin olive oil.

A ThermoFinnigan sheath liquid flow capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry system designed for coupling via a co-axial interface was coupled through an adapted via an alternative, commercially available interface for orthogonal sampling. The affordable, reversible structural alterations made in the commercial LC-MS interface resulted in improved analytical performance. The results of a conventional capillary electrophoresis (CE) method using a commercial co-axial source to determine antioxidant phenolic acids present in virgin olive oil, were compared with those obtained by using a modified orthogonal sampling position. In both cases, separations were done using a 10 mM ammonium acetate/ammonium hydroxide buffer solution at pH 10.0 and a constant applied voltage of 25 kV. The operating variables for the mass spectrometry interface were re-optimized for the modified orthogonal orientation. This allowed the sheath liquid, sheath gas flow rates and capillary voltage to be lowered with respect to the co-axial coupling configuration. In addition, the orthogonal sampling position provided a higher selectivity by effect of ion sampling excluding larger droplets-with an increased momentum along the axis-which were drained through the sink at the bottom of the ion source. Also, the new configuration facilitated sample ionization, improved electrospray stability and led to stronger signals as a result. The new system was validated in terms of precision (repeatability), linearity, and limits of detection and quantification. A comparison of the validation data with the results previously obtained by using a commercial co-axial configuration revealed the adapted orthogonal sampling position to provide better repeatability in both migration times and relative peak areas (<1% and 7% respectively with n=15 replicates), a good linear range (with levels in the microgram-per-litre region) and lower limits of detection-especially for the compounds detected with the lowest sensitivity when co-axial ESI was used, as HFA, GEN, FER and VAN finding LOD among 24-3.0 microg L(-1) respectively.

Optimisation and validation of a new CE method for the determination of lansoprazole enantiomers in pharmaceuticals.

An analytical method based on CZE to determine lansoprazole enantiomers in pharmaceuticals was developed. The primary factors affecting its separation efficiency, which include chiral selector, pH, buffer concentration, capillary temperature and injection time, were optimised. The best results were obtained by using a background electrolyte consisting of 50 mM phosphate adjusted to pH 2.2, 12 mM beta-CD and 5 mM sodium sulphite, in combination with hydrodynamic injection and a 15 kV separation voltage. Detection limits were calculated from baseline noise and found to be 0.64 mg L(-1) for the R enantiomer and 0.72 mg L(-1) for the S enantiomer. The proposed method was used to analyse three different pharmaceutical preparations with recoveries of 91-102% of the label content.

New CE-ESI-MS analytical method for the separation, identification and quantification of seven phenolic acids including three isomer compounds in virgin olive oil.

A sensitive and expeditious CE-ESI-MS analytical method for the separation, identification and determination of seven selected antioxidants (cinnamic and benzoic acids), including three isomers of coumaric acid (ortho-, meta- and para-) has been developed. In order to obtain the analytical separation, capillary electrophoresis and CE-MS interface parameters (e.g., buffer pH and composition, sheath liquid and gas flow rates, sheath liquid composition, electrospray voltage, etc.) were carefully optimized. The polar fraction containing the selected phenolic acids was obtained using a previously optimized SPE pretreatment. An MS detector in order to extract structural information about the target compounds and facilitate their qualitative analysis was used in the negative ion mode. The proposed off-line SPE CE-ESI-MS method was validated by assessing its precision, LODs and LOQs, linearity range and accuracy. The optimized and validated method was used in order to quantify the selected antioxidants in various samples of virgin olive oil and extra-virgin olive oil obtained from the main olive varieties cropped in Castilla-La Mancha, Spain. Salicylic acid was used as internal standard throughout in order to ensure reproducibility in the quantitative analysis of the oil samples. The results confirmed the presence of hydroxyphenyl acetic, p-coumaric, ferulic and vanillic acids in substantial amounts (microg g(-1) level) in all samples.