Determination of urinary vanillylmandelic acid by direct injection and coupled-column chromatography with electrochemical detection

An automated column-switching system for determination of vanillylmandelic acid in urine is described. The liquid chromatographic system was composed of two separation columns with different selectivity properties, an octadecyl column coated with tributyl phosphate as stationary liquid phase and a silica-based anion exchanger. Urine samples were injected directly onto the first column, where vanillylmandelic acid was separated from the main part of the sample matrix. The internal standard isovanillylmandelic acid was co-eluting with vanillylmandelic acid, and a fraction of the eluate containing both substances was switched to the second column, where separation was performed. To assess peak purity, detection was performed with dual working electrodes in parallel mode. A relative standard deviation of 3.5% was obtained for determination of human urine samples containing 3 microM vanillylmandelic acid, and less than 0.1 microM could be detected.

An automated determination of urinary 4-hydroxy-3-methoxymandelic acid

An automated method for the determination of urinary 4-hydroxy-3-methoxymandelic acid is described. It is based on the procedure of Pisano et al (Clin Chim Acta, 1962; 7: 285-291). The correlation between the automated method and HPLC was high even though diet and medications were not restricted. The method has the advantages of short analysis time, specificity, and precision.

Measurement of urinary vanilmandelic acid and homovanillic acid by high-performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection following extraction by ion-exchange and ion-moderated partition

An improved protocol has been developed to isolate homovanillic acid (HVA) and vanilmandelic acid (VMA) from urine with strong anion-exchange resin. The sample is diluted with acetate buffer and passed through a disposable column. HVA, uric acid, and many hydrophobic organic acids are removed with 1.0 M acetic acid--ethanol. Then VMA is eluted with 0.5 M phosphoric acid. Two isocratic mobile phases allow rapid high-performance liquid chromatographic measurement of VMA (5 min) and HVA (8 mins) on a 5-micron ODS column. Selective conditions were developed with dual-electrode coulometric detection to permit specific measurement of VMA, HVA, and internal standards, with less than 5% between-run variation.

Assay of urinary vanilmandelic, homovanillic, and 5-hydroxyindole acetic acids by liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection

A reversed-phase liquid chromatographic method with amperometric detection has been developed for the simultaneous determination of the noradrenaline metabolite, vanilmandelic acid, the dopamine metabolite, homovanillic acid, and the serotonin metabolite, 5-hydroxyindole acetic acid, in human urine. After purification by an extraction procedure, the metabolites were rapidly separated under isocratic conditions. Detection and quantification were performed with an electrochemical detector using a carbon paste electrode. The present method is sensitive, selective and, achieves a high degree of precision by the use of isovanilmandelic acid as an internal standard. This provides a suitable tool for clinical and research applications.

Separation of 5-hydroxyindole-3-acetic acid and indole-3-acetic acid in urine by direct injection on a reversed-phase column containing a hydrogen-accepting stationary phase

The separation of 5-hydroxyindole-3-acetic acid and indole-3-acetic acid from urine is demonstrated. The urine is injected directly on a liquid chromatographic column which is coupled to a flow-through fluorescence detector or a UV detector. A hydrogen-accepting stationary phase, tributyl phosphate (TBP), which retains carboxylic acid selectivity, was more selective than more common reversed-phase systems with alkyl-bonded stationary phases. The mobile phases were buffers, sometimes buffers containing methanol or acetonitrile. A simple method of removing late peaks in the chromatogram, in order to reduce analysis time, is also presented.

Determination of homovanillic, isohomovanillic and vanillylmandelic acids in human urine by means of glass capillary gas-liquid chromatography with temperature-programmed electron-capture detection

The determination of urinary homovanillic, isohomovanillic and vanillylmandelic acids as their trifluoroacetylhexafluoroisopropyl ester derivatives by glass capillary gas-liquid chromatography has been studied. It was shown that even with high column efficiencies a single peak-single compound relationship could not be assumed and for reliable quantitation it was necessary to check determinations with a second gas-liquid chromatography column.