Analysis of catecholamines and related compounds in one whole metabolic pathway with high performance liquid chromatography based on derivatization

Phthalylglycyl Chloride as a Derivatization Agent for UHPLC-MS/MS Determination of Adrenaline, Dopamine and Octopamine in Urine

Dopamine, adrenaline and octopamine are small polar molecules that play a vital role in regulatory systems. In this paper, phthalylglycyl chloride was proposed as a derivatization agent for octopamine, adrenaline and dopamine determination in urine for the first time. The derivatization procedure facilitated the use of reversed-phase liquid chromatography with positive electrospray ionization-high-resolution mass spectrometry. An LC-HRMS method was developed that provided quantification limits of 5 ng/mL and detection limits of 1.5 ng/mL for all analytes. The 95-97% yield of derivates was observed after a 10 min derivatization with phthalylglycyl chloride at pH 6.5 and 30 °C. The proposed method was successfully applied to the analysis of human urine samples. The obtained results were compared with those of conventional derivatization procedures with 9-fluorenyl-methoxycarbonyl chloride and dansyl chloride.

Current Sample Preparation Methodologies for Determination of Catecholamines and Their Metabolites

Catecholamines (CAs) and their metabolites play significant roles in many physiological processes. Changes in CAs concentration in vivo can serve as potential indicators for the diagnosis of several diseases such as pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma. Thus, the accurate quantification of CAs and their metabolites in biological samples is quite important and has attracted great research interest. However, due to their extremely low concentrations and numerous co-existing biological interferences, direct analysis of these endogenous compounds often suffers from severe difficulties. Employing suitable sample preparation techniques before instrument detection to enrich the target analytes and remove the interferences is a practicable and straightforward approach. To date, many sample preparation techniques such as solid-phase extraction (SPE), and liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) have been utilized to extract CAs and their metabolites from various biological samples. More recently, several modern techniques such as solid-phase microextraction (SPME), liquid-liquid microextraction (LLME), dispersive solid-phase extraction (DSPE), and chemical derivatizations have also been used with certain advanced features of automation and miniaturization. There are no review articles with the emphasis on sample preparations for the determination of catecholamine neurotransmitters in biological samples. Thus, this review aims to summarize recent progress and advances from 2015 to 2021, with emphasis on the sample preparation techniques combined with separation-based detection methods such capillary electrophoresis (CE) or liquid chromatography (LC) with various detectors. The current review manuscript would be helpful for the researchers with their research interests in diagnostic analysis and biological systems to choose suitable sample pretreatment and detection methods.

Recent Applications of Derivatization Techniques for Pharmaceutical and Bioanalytical Analysis through High-performance Liquid Chromatography

Background:

Derivatization of analytes is a quite convenient practice from an analytical perspective. Its vast prevalence is accounted by the availability of distinct reagents, primarily pragmatic for obtaining desired modifications in an analyte structure. Another reason for its handiness is typically to overcome limitations such as lack of sensitive methodology or instrumentation.The past decades have witnessed various new derivatization techniques including in-situ, enzymatic, ultrasound-assisted, microwave-assisted, and photochemical derivatization which have gain popularity recently.

Methods:

The online literature available on the utilization of derivatization as prominent analytical tools in recent years with typical advancements is reviewed. The illustrations of the analytical condition together with the structures of different derivatizing reagents (DRs) are provided to acknowledge the vast capability of derivatization to resolve analytical problems.

Results:

The derivatization techniques have enabled analytical chemists throughout the globe to develop an enhanced sensitivity method with the simplest of the instrument like High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). The HPLC, compared to more sensitive Liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometer, is readily available and can be readily utilized for routine analysis in fields of pharmaceuticals, bioanalysis, food safety, and environmental contamination. A troublesome aspect of these fields is the presence of a complex matrix with trace concentrations for analyses. Liquid chromatographic methods devoid of MS detectors do not have the desired sensitivity for this. A possible solution for overcoming this is to couple HPLC with derivatization to enable the possibility of detecting trace analytes with a less expensive instrument. Running cost, enhanced sensitivity, low time consumption, and overcoming the inherent problems of analyte are critical parameters for which HPLC is quite useful in high throughput analysis.

Conclusion:

The review critically highlights various kinds of derivatization applications in different fields of analytical chemistry. The information primarily focuses on pharmaceutical and bioanalytical applications in recent years. The various modes, types, and derivatizing reagents with brief mechanisms have been ascribed briefly Additionally, the importance of HPLC coupled to fluorescence and UV detection is presented as an overview through examples accompanied by their analytical conditions.

Selective Separation and Analysis of Catecholamines in Urine Based on Magnetic Solid Phase Extraction by Mercaptophenylboronic Acid Functionalized Fe3O4-NH2@Au Magnetic Nanoparticles Coupled with HPLC

A novel magnetic solid phase extraction based on mercaptophenylboronic acid (MPBA)-functionalized Fe3O4-NH2@Au nanomaterial (Fe3O4-NH2@Au-MPBA) was developed for selective separation and enrichment of catecholamines (including dopamine, norepinephrine and adrenaline). Fe3O4-NH2@Au-MPBA nanoparticles were achieved by self-assembly-anchoring MPBA molecules on the surface of Fe3O4-NH2@Au nanocomposites, which were synthesized via a facial ultrasonic auxiliary in situ reduction process. The interaction between cis-diol from catecholamines and boronic acid was reversible and could be flexibly controlled by adjusting pH value. The catecholamines could be quickly adsorbed by Fe3O4-NH2@Au-MPBA in weak alkaline solution (pH 8.0–9.0) and subsequently released in acid solution (pH 1.0–2.0). The process of adsorption and dissociation was very fast. Furthermore, the three catecholamines could be detected in urine from children by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with electrochemical detector. Under optimal conditions, norepinephrine (NE), epinephrine (EP) and dopamine (DA) were separated very well from internal standard and exhibited a good linearity in the range of 2.5–500.0 ng mL−1, with correlation coefficients of r2 > 0.9907. Limits of detection (LOD) (signal to noise = 3) were 0.39, 0.27 and 0.60 ng mL−1 for NE, EP and DA, respectively. Recoveries for the spiked catecholamines were in the range of 85.4–105.2% with the relative standard deviation (RSD) < 11.5%.

Analysis of neurotransmitter catecholamines and related amines in human urine and serum by chromatography and capillary electrophoresis with 1, 3, 5, 7-tetramethyl-8-(N-hydroxysuccinimidyl propionic ester)-difluoro-boradiaza-s-indacene

Two sensitive and effective methods were developed for the detection of catecholamines and related biogenic amines (dopamine, epinephrine, norepinephrine, serotonin, levodopa and tyramine) using high performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection and capillary electrophoresis with laser-induced fluorescence detection. A BODIPY fluorescent dye, 1, 3, 5, 7-tetramethyl-8-(N-hydroxysuccinimidyl propionic ester)-difluoroboradiaza- s-indacene was used as pre-column derivatization reagent. The separation and derivatization conditions were optimized in detail. In high performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection method, the derivatization reaction was completed at 35 °C for 20 min. At the wavelength of λex/λem = 493 nm/513 nm, dopamine, epinephrine, norepinephrine, and levodopa derivatives achieved baseline separation within 15 min. The limits of detection (S/N = 3) were 1.0, 2.0, 5.0, and 0.5 nmol/L, respectively. In capillary electrophoresis with laser-induced fluorescence detection method, the derivatization reaction was completed at 25 °C for 20 min. Serotonin, tyramine and dopamine derivatives reached baseline separation within 10 min at the wavelength of λex = 473 nm. The limits of detection (S/N = 3) for serotonin, tyramine, and dopamine were 0.3, 0.02, and 0.2 nmol/L, respectively. The amino compounds in human serum and urine samples were detected successfully, and the recoveries were 93.3%–106.7% and 91.0%–103.1%, respectively.

Efficient Sub-1 Minute Analysis of Selected Biomarker Catecholamines by Core-Shell Hydrophilic Interaction Liquid Chromatography (HILIC) with Nanomolar Detection at a Boron-Doped Diamond (BDD) Electrode

A rapid, sensitive method for the separation of catecholamine biomarkers (CAs), of importance in traumatic brain injury (TBI) and in Parkinson’s disease (PD), has been successfully developed using hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC). Dopamine (DA), epinephrine (EPI), and norepinephrine (NE) are known to be three to fivefold elevated above normal in traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients. HILIC facilitates the rapid and efficient separation of these polar biomarkers, which can be poorly retained by reversed-phase liquid chromatography (RPLC), while electrochemical detection (ECD) at the boron-doped diamond (BDD) electrode provides enhanced nanomolar detection. Three HILIC columns were compared, namely the superficially porous (core-shell) Z-HILIC column and the Z-cHILIC and Z-HILIC fully porous columns. The core-shell Z-HILIC showed the highest efficiency with a rapid separation within 60 s. The HILIC method utilizing the core-shell Z-HILIC column was initially optimized for the simultaneous analysis of DA, EPI, and NE using UV detection. The advantages of using the BDD electrode over UV detection were explored, and the improved limits of detection (LODs, S/N = 3) measured were 40, 50, and 50 nM for DA, EPI, and NE, respectively. Method validation is reported in terms of the linearity, repeatability, reproducibility, and LODs. Furthermore, the proposed method was successfully applied to the real sample analysis of urinary CAs following phenylboronic acid (PBA) solid phase extraction (SPE) pretreatment.