Detection of inositol phosphates with HPLC-ICP-AES : Method development

Abstract: Inositol phosphates (IPs) represent a major part of the organic phosphorus found in the environment, which makes their identification and quantification very important. The goal of this project was to explore the possibility of quantification of IPs with inductively coupled plasma - atomic emission spectrometry (ICP - AES). This paper deals with the creation of an in-house IP standard and the considerations for the successful linking of high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with ICP - AES. Experiments with different nebulizers, mobile phases, standard solutions and model substance were performed. The proposed optimal conditions for the ICP experiments are: the use of a modified Lichte nebulizer, mobile phase without methanol and the use of standards matched to the mobile phase. Adenosine monophosphate (AMP) was found to be a good model substance and showed that the band broadening from HPLC to ICP – AES was approximately a factor of 2. Limits of detection for AMP were 5 µM for HPLC and 20 µM for ICP – AES. The optimal way to create an in-house standard was using the potassium salt of IP6 and treating it for 90 minutes at a temperature of 120 ºC with 3.2 M acetic acid.