Separation of anionic and cationic compounds of biomedical interest by high-performance liquid chromatography on...

The separation of small, ionizable compounds of biomedical interest on porous graphitic carbon is described. The retention of anionic compounds is dominated by electronic interaction between the solute and the delocalized electron clouds on the graphitized carbon, while cationic compounds are mainly retained by reversed-phase interaction with the hydrophobic carbon surface. Anionic and cationic compounds can be separated simultaneously with a mobile phase containing an electronic modifier (e.g., trifluoroacetic acid) and an organic modifier (e.g., acetonitrile) for elution. Examples of applications include the measurement of oxalic acid in urine, the determination of creatine and creatinine in urine and in serum, the separation of basic drugs (remoxipride and FLA 981) and the simultaneous analysis of pertechnetate anion and the cationic technetium-amine complexes.