Combination of two different stationary phases for on-line pre-concentration and separation of basic drugs by using nano-liquid chromatography

Capillary columns were packed firstly with silica modified-teicoplanin (teico-CSP) particles for a short zone (1–5 cm) and then with a Cogent Bidentate C18™ silica phase (25 cm). The first part of the column (inlet) was intended for focusing the sample model, consisted of selected basic compounds, while the second zone, containing RP18 particles, was used for their separation. For method optimization, some important experimental parameters were studied including the sample solvent, injected volume and teico-CSP particles length. 3 cm teico-CSP resulted to be effective for the on-line pre-concentration, before the separation, of acebutolol, alprenolol, nadolol, oxprenolol and terbutaline with limit of detection at levels of few ng/mL. The comparison of the data obtained in absence of the chiral stationary phase revealed that the use of this chiral short sector into the capillary allowed the increase of the sensitivity of 5–12 times. Injection of larger sample volumes were easily done using higher length of the teico-CSP into the capillary, however the use of 5 cm length was not appropriate because caused the partial chiral separation of some studied compounds.

► Teicoplanin-silica phase was used as focusing media for basic drugs separation.
► The chiral phase was combined with C18 particles for the nano-LC study.
► Chiral phase length was studied to find optimum experimental conditions.
► Sample solvent and injected volume influenced pre-concentration.