Two-dimensional liquid chromatography (2D-LC) has gained increased attention because of its high peak capacity for separating complex samples. However, preparative 2D-LC aimed at isolating compounds is significantly different compared with one-dimensional liquid chromatography (1D-LC) in terms of method development and system configuration; thus, it is less developed than its analytical counterpart. The use of 2D-LC in large-scale product preparation has rarely been reported. Hence, a preparative 2D-LC system was developed in this study. The system was composed of one set of preparative LC modules as a separation system, with a dilution pump, switch valves, and trap column array as the interface, to enable the simultaneous isolation of several compounds. Tobacco was used as a sample, and the developed system was applied to isolate nicotine, chlorogenic acid, rutin, and solanesol. The chromatographic conditions were developed by investigating the trapping efficiency of different types of trap column packings, and chromatographic behaviors under different overload conditions. The four compounds were isolated in one 2D-LC run with high purity. The developed system features low cost because it employs medium-pressure isolation, excellent automation owing to its use of an online column switch, high stability, and capability for large-scale production. The isolation of chemicals from tobacco leaves as pharmaceutical raw materials could aid in the development of the tobacco industry and promote the local agricultural economy.
An improved solid phase extraction (SPE)-high performance liquid chromatography method was established to determine 15 carbonyl compounds, namely, formaldehyde (FOR), acetaldehyde (ACETA), acrolein (ACR), acetone (ACETO), propionaldehyde (PRO), crotonaldehyde (CRO), butyraldehyde (BUT), benzaldehyde (BEN), isovaleraldehyde (ISO), n-valeraldehyde (VAL), o-methylbenzaldehyde (o-TOL), m-methylbenzaldehyde (m-TOL), p-methylbenzaldehyde (p-TOL), n-hexanal (HEX), and 2,5-dimethylbenzaldehyde (DIM), in soil. The soil was ultrasonically extracted with acetonitrile, and the extracted samples were derivatized with 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine (2,4-DNPH) to generate stable hydrazone compounds. The derivatized solutions were cleaned using an SPE cartridge (Welchrom® BRP) packed with N-vinylpyrrolidone/divinylbenzene copolymer. Separation was performed on an Ultimate® XB-C18 column (250 mm×4.6 mm, 5 μm), isocratic elution was performed with acetonitrile-water (65∶35, v/v) as the mobile phase, and detection was performed at a wavelength of 360 nm. The 15 carbonyl compounds in the soil were then quantified using an external standard method. The proposed method improves the sample processing method described in the environmental standard HJ 997-2018: Soil and sediment-Determination of carbonyl compounds-High performance liquid chromatography. A series of experiments revealed the following optimal conditions for soil extraction: acetonitrile as the extraction solvent, extraction temperature of 30 ℃, and extraction time of 10 min. The results showed that the purification effect of the BRP cartridge was significantly better than that of the conventional silica-based C18 cartridge. The 15 carbonyl compounds showed good linearities, and all correlation coefficients were above 0.996. The recoveries ranged from 84.6% to 115.9%, the relative standard deviations (RSDs) ranged from 0.2% to 5.1%, and the detection limits were 0.02-0.06 mg/L. The method is simple, sensitive, and suitable for the accurate quantitative analysis of the 15 carbonyl compounds in soil specified in HJ 997-2018. Thus, the improved method provides reliable technical support for studying the residual status and environmental behavior of carbonyl compounds in soil.
The detection of paralytic shellfish toxins in human biological matrices is important for the diagnosis and treatment of food poisoning caused by them. An ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) method was established for the determination of 14 paralytic shellfish toxins in plasma and urine. The effect of solid phase extraction (SPE) cartridges was also investigated and the pretreatment and chromatographic conditions were optimized. Under these optimal conditions, 0.2 mL water, 0.4 mL methanol, and 0.6 mL acetonitrile were successively added to plasma and urine samples for extraction. The supernatants from plasma extraction were subjected to an UHPLC-MS/MS analysis, whereas the supernatants from urine extraction were further purified using polyamide (PA) SPE cartridges and then analyzed by UHPLC-MS/MS. Chromatographic separation was conducted on a Poroshell 120 HILIC-Z column (100 mm×2.1 mm, 2.7 μm) with a flow rate of 0.5 mL/min. The mobile phase was 0.1% (v/v) formic acid aqueous solution containing 5 mmoL/L ammonium formate and acetonitrile containing 0.1% (v/v) formic acid. The analytes were detected in the multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode after being ionized by an electrospray ion (ESI) in positive and negative modes. Quantitation of the target compounds was performed using the external standard method. Under the optimal conditions, the method showed good linearity in the range of 0.24-84.06 μg/L, with correlation coefficients greater than 0.995. The limits of quantification (LOQs) for the plasma and urine samples were 1.68-12.04 ng/mL and 4.80-34.4 ng/mL, respectively. The average recoveries for all the compounds were 70.4%-123.4% at spiked levels of 1, 2, and 10 times the LOQs, the intra-day precisions were 2.3%-19.1% and the inter-day precisions were 5.0%-16.0%. The established method was used to determine the target compounds in the plasma and urine from mice intraperitoneally injected with 14 shellfish toxins. All 14 toxins were detected in the 20 urine and 20 plasma samples, with contents of 19.40-55.60 μg/L and 8.75-13.86 μg/L, respectively. The method is simple, sensitive, and only requires a small amount of sample. Therefore, it is highly suitable for the rapid detection of paralytic shellfish toxins in plasma and urine.