An Optical Rotatory Detector for High-Performance Liquid Chromatography Using Polarization Modulation

• Published in: Analytical Sciences Vol. 24; no. 3; pp. 361 - 364
• Main Authors: YAMAMOTO, Atsushi, KAWAI, Mio, SAKAMOTO, Mitsunori, KODAMA, Shuji, HAYAKAWA, Kazuichi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Singapore The Japan Society for Analytical Chemistry 2008; Springer Nature Singapore; Japan Science and Technology Agency
• Subjects: Algorithms; Analytical Chemistry; Carbohydrates - analysis; Chemistry; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid - instrumentation; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid - methods; Circular Dichroism - instrumentation; Circular Dichroism - methods; Equipment Design; Optical Rotation; Optical Rotatory Dispersion - instrumentation; Optical Rotatory Dispersion - methods; Sensitivity and Specificity; Time Factors
• ISSN: 0910-6340; 1348-2246
• DOI: 10.2116/analsci.24.361

A sensitive and variable-wavelength optical rotatory (OR) detector for high-performance liquid chromatography is presented. This design is entirely different from that of conventional OR detectors consisting of a crossed polarizer pair. By placing a polarizing prism and a retardation plate into a commercial circular dichroism (CD) detector, the OR signal was obtained. The Mueller matrix approach was used to prove the principle of the OR signal appearance. Sugars and 4-androstene-3,17-dione were chosen as test compounds. The limit of detection was below 0.5 µg of injected sucrose at 260 nm, which was superior to that obtained with a conventional OR detector. For 4-androstene-3,17-dione, which is CD active, and shows a large anomalous OR dispersion curve, our detector gave a large OR signal with approximately half the intensity of the CD signal at 340 nm.