Deactivation of glass capillaries by persilylation. Part 2: Practical recommendations

Determination of the partial benzodiazepine receptor agonist Ro 16-6028 in plasma by capillary gas chromatography with nitrogen-selective detection after conversion into the ethyl ester derivative

A highly sensitive capillary gas chromatographic method was developed to determine plasma levels of a novel partial benzodiazepine receptor agonist in man following the very low therapeutic doses required for anxiolysis. The compound was isolated from plasma by liquid-liquid extraction at basic pH, converted into the ethyl ester analogue by a two-step procedure, separated from plasma constituents by capillary gas chromatography and quantified by means of nitrogen-selective detection. Because of the thermolabile tert.-butyl ester function, the agonist could not be gas chromatographed without degradation. Formation of the far more stable ethyl ester analogue was achieved by treatment with hydrogen chloride in ethanol, followed by an ethylation step with diazoethane. The high sensitivity of the new method (about 100 pg/ml, using 1-ml plasma specimens) allowed the monitoring of plasma levels of the agonist for up to 8 h (about three elimination half-lives) after a single 0.1-mg oral dose to human volunteers. The practicability of the procedure was demonstrated by the analysis of more than 600 plasma samples from clinical studies performed with human volunteers.

[Quantitative analysis of auto-oxidation products of cholesterol in food of animal origin]

After extraction with methylene chloride, isolation of the unsaponifiable lipid fraction and enrichment by two-step column chromatography, the oxycholesterols were gas chromatographically separated in the form of their trimethylsilyl ethers on a thin film capillary and identified by mass spectrometry. The three major products of cholesterol autoxidation were cholest-5-en-3 beta, 7 alpha-diol(I) its 7 beta-epimer(II) and 5,6-epoxy-cholestan-3 beta-ol(III). In addition, traces of cholestan-3 beta, 5 alpha, 6 beta-triol and cholest-5-en-3 beta,25-diol were detected in some samples. Quantitative analysis was performed with cholest-5-en-3 beta,19-diol as internal standard. The highest concentrations of I-III were found in spray dried egg powders (total amount 15-60 micrograms/g). Parmesan cheese, butter oil and sausages contained significantly lower levels of I-III (total amount 0.1-2.6 micrograms/g). The concentrations of I-III increased strongly when butter oil and beef tallow were heated at 170 degrees C in the presence of air for a longer period.

Direct determination of trace amounts of chlorophenols in fresh water, waste water and sea water

Chlorophenols were acetylated and the derivatives extracted by the simultaneous addition of acetic anhydride and hexane directly to the water sample. The extracts were then analysed by glass capillary column gas chromatography with electron-capture detection. Determination of chlorinated phenols at micrograms/l concentration levels requires only 5 ml of sample. At ng/l levels a 100-ml sample is sufficient. The total time of analysis is 18 min per sample. A comparison between pentafluorobenzoylation and acetylation showed that the acetylated derivatives of chlorophenol isomers separated better on the column. The method has been applied to drinking water, sea water and waste water from a sulphate pulp mill.