Investigation of peak compression effects in packed column supercritical fluid chromatography using chemometrics

Peak compression effects in capillary electrochromatography

Peak compression in CEC is a phenomenon that can generate very narrow peaks with extremely high efficiencies that defy current chromatographic theory. This review article summarises the content of publications in this area up to this date. Two main types of peak compression effects have been observed in the literature. First, an irreproducible and hard to control focusing effect of unclear origin, observed on strong cation exchangers. Second, a reproducible continuous stacking effect caused by sample composition induced system zones demonstrated on several types of stationary phases.

Direct injection of aqueous samples in packed column supercritical fluid chromatography of isosorbide-5-mononitrate from drug release testing

A method for the analysis of aqueous samples of isosorbide-5-mononitrate (5-ISMN) is presented. It is based on packed column supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) using 20% of 2-propanol in carbon dioxide as the mobile phase and a diol silica column as the stationary phase. Using the described conditions it is possible to quantitate 5-ISMN released from Imdur tablets in gastric media. The precision upon repeated injections was 2% (RSD) at the 20 microg/ml level (n=8), using peak height measurements, when the solution was circulated through the sample loop of the injector. Samples from drug release testing that had been analyzed with reversed phase LC were analyzed with the present method and the results agreed well. It is also possible to monitor the drug released in a dissolution-testing vessel through direct on-line continuous loading (recirculation) of the sample loop of the SFC instrument.

Supercritical fluid chromatography as basis for identification and quantitative determination of indol-3-ylmethyl oligomers and ascorbigens

Indol-3-ylmethylglucosinolate (glucobrassicin) occurs in most plants of the Brassicaceae family together with hydroxy and methoxy derivatives of glucobrassicin. These compounds and products produced therefrom have been the subject of considerable research interest due to their potential anticarcinogenic effects, and thereby a need for techniques to work with the individual compounds. A method using normal-phase supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) with methanol as modifier has been developed for determination and quantification of the various indol-3-ylmethyl derivatives including ascorbigens formed from the glucobrassicin degradation product, indol-3-ylmethanol, under acidic conditions (pH 2-6) with and without the presence of ascorbic acid. The SFC method had detection limits in the 10-100-pmol range. In the absence of ascorbic acid a range of oligomers were formed, whereas the presence of ascorbic acid favoured the formation of ascorbigen and products thereof. Quantitatively important indol-3-ylmethyl oligomers consisting of up to five indol rings have been purified with preparative SFC and identified from MS and 1D and 2D NMR experiments with complete assignment of chemical shifts to all of the atoms. Investigation of the autolysis products of white cabbage showed that ascorbigens were the quantitatively dominating degradation products of indol-3-ylmethylglucosinolates.

Study of dead volume measurement in packed subcritical fluid chromatography with ODS columns and carbon dioxide-modifier mobile phases

Studies were done for providing a simple, rapid and reliable procedure of void volume measurement in packed subcritical fluid chromatography (pSubFC), with CO2-modifier mobile phases containing high modifier amounts. Methods used in RPLC with ODS columns were applied in pSubFC: gravimetric, homologous series linearisation and unretained marker injection. Results lead us to propose the method of marker injection to determine the void volume in pSubFC. Acetonitrile was chosen as the void volume marker among six tested markers. Furthermore, void volume variations vs. the modifier volume (from 5 to 45%) were studied for nine organic modifiers. The void volume variations were related both to adsorption-desorption phenomena between the mobile phase and the stationary phase and to mobile phase density changes. These variations allowed the classification of the modifiers into four groups on the basis of the molecular interactions.