Alternative solvents for improving the greenness of normal phase liquid chromatography of lipid classes

An evaluation of solvents alternative to n-heptane (d-limonene and hexamethyldisiloxane) and chloroform (cyclopentyl methyl ether, 2-methyltetrahydrofuran and isopentyl acetate) was developed for lipid classes separation of non-polar cholesteryl ester to highly polar phospholipids by high-performance liquid chromatography on bare silica stationary phase and evaporative light-scattering detection. Screening of alternative solvents was used to estimate their compatibility with liquid chromatography and evaporative light-scattering detection and to evaluate their chromatographic selectivity. This work shows that n-heptane can be advantageously replaced by hexamethyldisiloxane. An increase of non-polar lipids retention is observed with hexamethyldisiloxane as weak solvent. Chloroform, which is largely used for lipid analysis, might be replaced efficaciously by cyclopentyl methyl ether, 2-methyltetrahydrofuran or isopentyl acetate. Aside from offering a different selectivity, the gradients composed by one or both alternative solvents gave efficient and comparable or even better separations than those obtained with conventional solvents.