Derivatization of hydroxyl functional groups for liquid chromatography and capillary electroseparation

The derivatization reactions commonly used to enhance the analytical signal in the HPLC and CE determination of compounds with hydroxyl functional groups are revised. Focus is placed on the determination of compounds having aliphatic alcohols and phenols while lacking other reactive functional groups. The derivatization with acyl chlorides, organic anhydrides, isocyanates and a variety of other approaches, including oxidation of primary and secondary alcohols, sulfonation, esterification with carboxylic acids, and the use of azides, sulfonyl chlorides and other reagents having miscellaneous leaving groups, is covered. Reactions mainly addressed to introduce a chromophore or a fluorophore in the analyte molecule, or to introduce a charge to enhance sensitivity in MS detection, or to enable CE separation are included. Applications related to the industrial quality control of raw materials and manufactured products, and to the evaluation of their environmental impact are emphasized. The problem of the different response factors of the derivatives when complex mixtures of oligomers are derivatized, as occurs with non-ionic surfactants (mainly fatty alcohol ethoxylates) and soluble synthetic polymers, is discussed. Other applications related to the biochemical, biomedical, pharmaceutical, nutritional and toxicological fields are also reviewed. The reactions, the criteria to be applied to select the reagent, and the characteristics of the derivatives in relation to separation and detection, are discussed.