Rapid separation of urinary acids by high-performance liquid chromatography

Over a hundred acidic urinary constituents were separated within 30 min by using 5-micron octadecyl-silica columns and gradient elution with increasing acetonitrile concentration in dilute aqueous phosphoric acid solution at 70 degrees. The column effluent was monitored with a UV detector at 280 nm or with a fluorescence detector at 260 nm excitation and 340 nm emission wavelengths. The high sensitivity and speed of analysis, the excellent reproducibility and adequate resolution obtained suggest that this technique may be useful to obtain metabolic profiles in routine clinical work.