Green Chemistry Ideas in HPLC: Use Acetone

I have found that in terms of green chemistry principles, acetone is a superior HPLC mobile phase solvent than acetonitrile since it is significantly less toxic to humans and the environment. Another green advantage of acetone is that it is easier to recover and reuse than acetonitrile.

However, we all know that acetone has notable drawbacks which generally have precluded its use in routine HPLC methods over the years. It has significant absorption in the UV range and therefore is generally unsuitable for UV-based detection methods. Also increased tailing, broader peak widths, and lower retention have been observed for studied peptide analytes compared to acetonitrile when using conventional reversed phase HPLC columns. I am happy to say that I have used the Cogent Diamond Hydride™ column and very similar chromatography was obtained for most of the seventeen amino acids.

We investigated Acetone use with LC-MS and varied isocratic conditions (see Figure for comparisons). These findings suggest that acetone can be used interchangeably with acetonitrile in many instances when using the Cogent TYPE-C Silica™ columns.

For more information on the mobile phase solvent comparison study, see the following article in our online Knowledge Base or contact me:

http://kb.mtc-usa.com/article/AA-01017

 

Josh Young
MicroSolv Technology Corporation