Amino Acid Analysis using a Cartridge-Type Monolithic Silica Column

Abstract

In this study, the application of a new type of monolithic silica column to the analysis of amino acids in human plasma samples has been investigated. The monolithic silica column (3.0 × 150 mm, MonoTower C18) provided good separation of the amino acids derivatized with 4-fluoro-7-nitro-2,1,3-benzoxadiazole (NBD-F). Although the separation ability of this column was not much improved in comparison with the previous monolithic silica columns, it was similar with that of a 3 μm particle packed column. The column with length 150 mm had the same separation property as a tandem connection of columns of lengths 50 mm and 100 mm. After 1000 injections of human plasma samples, the peak widths for the NBD-amino acids were increased by only 8%. Thus, the newly developed monolithic silica column can be potentially applied for faster analysis and/or more efficient separation of biological compounds.