Simultaneous Separation of Amino Acids and Parabens Using Zodiac HST OG with Mass Spectrometry-Compatible Mobile Phase

This application illustrates the separation of amino acids (e.g., asparagine, glutamic acid, lysine) and parabens (e.g., methyl and ethyl paraben) on the Zodiac HST OG mixed-mode column using a mass spec-compatible mobile phase.

The method employs a gradient elution from ammonium formate (AmFm) to ammonium acetate (AmAc) buffers at pH 4.0, making it suitable for LC-MS applications. The detection is carried out using both UV at 250 nm (for parabens) and ELSD (Evaporative Light Scattering Detector) for amino acids, which lack strong UV chromophores.

This setup demonstrates the power of Zodiac HST OG reversed-phase and ion-exchange retention mechanisms to achieve excellent separation of chemically diverse compounds in a single run.