Ethyl lactate as a greener alternative to acetonitrile in RPLC: a realistic appraisal

Florina Micăle; Florin Albu; Emilia-Elena Iorgulescu; Andrei Medvedovici; Florentin Tache

doi:10.1093/chromsci/bmv077

Ethyl lactate as a greener alternative to acetonitrile in RPLC: a realistic appraisal

J Chromatogr Sci. 2015 Nov-Dec;53(10):1701-7. doi: 10.1093/chromsci/bmv077. Epub 2015 Jun 26.

Authors

Florina Micăle¹, Florin Albu², Emilia-Elena Iorgulescu¹, Andrei Medvedovici¹, Florentin Tache³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Bucharest, #90 Panduri Av., Bucharest 050663, Romania.
² Department of Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Bucharest, #90 Panduri Av., Bucharest 050663, Romania Analytical Application Laboratory, Agilrom, # 40S Th. Pallady Ave., Bucharest 032266, Romania.
³ Department of Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Bucharest, #90 Panduri Av., Bucharest 050663, Romania ftache_ro@yahoo.com.

PMID: 26115951
DOI: 10.1093/chromsci/bmv077

Abstract

Appropriate substitution of acetonitrile (ACN) in mobile phases for reversed-phase liquid chromatography (RPLC) by low toxicity, ecologically friendly alternative solvents emerges as a greener approach in separation sciences. Ethyl lactate is considered as a green solvent in organic synthesis, industrial extraction processes and many other applicative fields. Its ability to substitute ACN in mobile phases for RPLC applications was barely investigated. The feasibility of such a replacement was tested for the separation of the mixture of 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons listed by the Environmental Protection Agency. The analytical approach was found to be achievable, with some compromises in terms of elution order, peak efficiency and UV detectability. Thermodynamic aspects of the chromatographic process were also comparatively assessed. Correlations between the elution order and some molecular descriptors were also discussed.