Towards a solution for viscous heating in ultra-high pressure liquid chromatography using intermediate cooling.

A generic solution is proposed for the deleterious viscous heating effects in adiabatic or near-adiabatic systems that can be expected when trying to push the column operating pressures above the currently available range of ultra-high pressures (i.e., 1200 bar). A set of proof-of-principle experiments, mainly using existing commercial equipment, is presented. The solution is based on splitting up a column with given length L into n segments with length L/n, and providing an active cooling to the capillaries connecting the segments. In this way, the viscous heat is removed at a location where the radial heat removal does not lead to an efficiency loss (i.e., in the thin connection capillaries), while the column segments can be operated under near-adiabatic conditions without suffering from an unacceptable rise of the mobile phase temperature. Experimental results indicate that the column segmentation does not lead to a significant efficiency loss (comparing the performance of a 10 cm column with a 2 cm x 5 cm column system), whereas, as expected, the system displays a much improved temperature stability, both in time (because of the shortened temperature transient times) and in space (reduction of the average axial temperature rise by a factor n). The method also prevents a large backflow of heat along the column wall that would lead to large efficiency losses if one would attempt to operate columns at pressures of 1500 bar or more. A real-world pharmaceutical example is given where this improved temperature robustness could help in moderating the changes in selectivity during method transfer from a low to a high pressure operation, although the complex non-linear behavior of the viscous heating and high pressure effects result in lower than expected improvement.

Very small injected samples to study chloroquine and quinine in human serum using capillary-LC and native fluorescence.

A comparison between HPLC with conventional fluorescence detection and capillary-LC (microHPLC) with native laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) detection was done to determine chloroquine (CQ) and quinine (Q) in human serum. HPLC experiments were run with parameters of the conventional fluorimeter set at the highest level of sensitivity. Results were compared with those obtained on microHPLC coupled to a ZETALIF (He-Cd 325 nm) detector which provided a 50-fold increase in sensitivity. In microHPLC-LIF injection volumes were 200 nL instead of 10 microL in conventional HPLC. The separation was completed within 3 min (6 min on HPLC). The limit of detection on microHPLC-LIF was 1.9 and 1.3 fmol for CQ and Q, respectively. Both experiments were validated on serum samples. The mean recovery was more than 95% for CQ and Q. The intra- and inter-day precision and accuracy were found to be within the acceptable limits (<10%).

Capillary electrochromatography-laser-induced fluorescence method for separation and detection of dansylated dialkylamine tags in encoded combinatorial libraries.

LC-fluorescence and LC-MS methods have been previously reported for use in decoding bead-based combinatorial libraries. We present the use of capillary electrochromatography (CEC) for highly selective decoding in combination with laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) detection for high sensitivity. The results are compared to prior data obtained using HPLC with fluorescence detection. The use of CEC shows promise for miniaturization and multiplexing for future applications, and the use of LIF detection can allow for detection at sub-pmol amounts.

In-line coupling of low-pressure short capillary electrochromatography columns to electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry.

A new in-house designed and constructed injection valve for capillary electrochromatography (CEC) based on a rotating injection part with compartments for the eluent as well as for the sample has been coupled to a mass spectrometer via a sheath flow electrospray ionisation (ESI) interface, using short capillary columns of 15 cm length. The CEC columns were packed with 3 microm C(18) bonded silica particles, and a mixture of peptides was analysed using an ammonium acetate/acetonitrile eluent. A significant increase in the signal-to-noise ratio was obtained when the peptides were dissolved in water with the same content of organic modifier as in the eluent with an addition of 0.5% (v/v) acetic acid. When the CEC analysis was performed without any additional pressure, the separation current sometimes dropped tremendously due to bubble formation, caused by different permeability in the first and packed part of the column causing an extremely low electroosmotic flow. The separation current was restored to its original value by applying only 7 bar at the inlet of the CEC column, and the separation performance for the test peptides was recovered. A comparison of the CEC performance of peptides in pure CEC mode and in low-pressure CEC mode is reported.

Recent applications of capillary electrochromatography.

A review is presented of the most important recent applications of capillary electrochromatography (CEC) for the analysis of acidic, basic, and neutral compounds, of biomolecules, environmental substances, natural products, pharmaceuticals, and chiral compounds. Packed-column CEC (packed-CEC), open-tubular (OT-CEC), as well as pressure-assisted CEC (pseudo-CEC) are hereby considered. Papers published between July 1999 and April 2001 were taken into account. Applications before July 1999 have been reviewed in Electrophoresis 1999, 20, 3027-3065.

Separation of basic solutes by reversed-phase capillary electrochromatography.

The separation of basic solutes at low pH by capillary electrochromatography (CEC) has been investigated. The feasibility of separation of basic solutes by CEC was demonstrated. Influence of operational parameters, solvent composition, pH, temperature on retention and selectivity of the separation of a mixture of basic, neutral and acidic drug standards has been investigated. The observed elution behavior has been modeled to account for both chromatographic retention and differential electrophoretic mobility of the solutes. This model was verified experimentally. It is demonstrated in this work that the elution window of solutes in reversed-phase CEC is expanded to range from -1 to infinity.

High temperature and temperature programming in capillary electrochromatography.

In electrochromatography, solvent electrophoretic mobility and solute partitioning are temperature dependent processes. If temperature variations are controlled, solute selectivity and analysis times can be tailored. In this study the feasibility of temperature programming in capillary electrochromatography (CEC) was demonstrated using a reversed-phase CEC mode. The outcome of programmed separations was compared with isothermal, isocratic and isorheic (constant flow) separations. The combined effects of column temperature and mobile phase flow-rate changes during the separation run, resulted in up to a 50% reduction in the separation run time, without adversely affecting the quality of separation. For capillary electrochromatography, temperature programming may be a valuable alternative to solvent programming modes because of the great technical difficulties associated with carrying out solvent gradient elution.

Towards the column bed stabilization of columns in capillary electroendosmotic chromatography. Immobilization of microparticulate silica columns to a continuous bed.

This article discusses a novel method generating a continuous bed inside the CEC column. The column bed composed of microparticulate reversed-phase silica is completely immobilized by a hydrothermal treatment using water for the immobilization process. This process eliminates the manufacture of frits of both ends of the column and all problems associated with their preparation. Fundamental studies on operational parameters will be presented such as the dependence of the immobilization on the column temperature, the type of stationary phase and the column back pressure. The immobilized CEC columns show the same high column efficiency as packed columns with frits.

Integrated approach to the multidimensional analysis of complex biological samples by microseparation techniques. Analysis of glycoprotein factor associated with cancer cachexia.

Microanalytical separation techniques including capillary liquid chromatography, capillary electrophoresis and capillary electrochromatography are suitable for detection of diagnostically important changes in the metabolic profiles of biological fluids. A prototype instrument was employed to serve as an integrated platform for the analysis of urine sample from patients suffering from cancer cachexia. The instrument provides for convenient, rapid and efficient multidimensional approach towards method development which would facilitate simultaneous analysis of complex biological mixtures by the above techniques.

Advances in capillary electrochromatography.

This paper presents practical aspects of capillary electrochromatography (CEC). Preparation of capillary columns, including terminating frits and immobilization of the packed bed, is described in detail. Longevity and reproducibility of CEC columns is demonstrated. Instrumental aspects, sample introduction, sensitivity of detection, and gradient elution are discussed in detail. A number of examples that illustrate the versatility of CEC, in particular, for providing an isocratic separation alternative to conventional gradient separation in HPLC, are given.

Recovery of biologically active enzymes after HPLC separation.

The mass and activity recovery of eight different enzymes (two monomeric, six oligomeric) with molecular masses between 25,000 and 240,000 daltons were tested after HPLC separation on three different HPLC instruments (two with stainless steel and one with titanium flow paths). Most of the tested proteins are known to be sensitive to heavy metal ions. Eight wide pore, ion-exchange columns, two size-exclusion columns and two hydrophobic-interaction columns were used. Both stainless steel and glass column hardware were used in all three separation modes. The elution times were between 8 and 12 minutes. In almost all cases, the activity recovery was between 90% and 100% compared with a control sample incubated in the chromatographic elution buffer for the same time at the same temperature. A severe activity loss (about 30%) was observed with only one ion-exchange column and one enzyme. Neither the column hardware nor the material of the HPLC equipment had any negative effect on the activity recovery of the enzymes tested.

Fast separation of biological macromolecules on non-porous, microparticulate columns.

The use of high-performance liquid chromatographic columns for the separation of proteins and nucleic acids is gradually increasing in biochemical laboratories. The efficiency of these columns for such separations has been much lower than that achievable for the separation of smaller molecules. Non-porous microparticulate packings are the logical answer one arrives at after consideration of the chromatographic behaviour of proteins. Non-porous stationary phases are described for the separation of proteins, peptides and nucleic acids. The stationary phases used are TSK-Gel NPR-C18, TSK-Gel NPR-DEAE, TSK-Gel NPR-SP and HYTACH MicroPell C18. A number of fundamental properties of columns based on these sorbents were evaluated, such as permeability, retention behaviour towards small and large molecules, load capacity and stability. Instrumental requirements for these columns are discussed and some applications described.