Enantioselective Separation of a Novel Iron Chelate Prototype with Potential Use as Fertilizer by HPLC-DAD

The development of new sustainable chelators used in agriculture requires adequate analytical methodologies for their characterization. This study involved the development of a new analytical method by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to a diode array detector for enantioseparation and determination of a novel iron chelate prototype. The effects of different variables were investigated and optimized. The separation was achieved with a Chiralpak IC and a mobile phase consisting of a mixture of acetonitrile (solvent A), water (solvent B) and ammonium bicarbonate 20 mM at pH = 9 (solvent C) at 0.5 mL/min in isocratic elution at a temperature of 30 degrees C. The limits of detection and quantification were 0.8-1.1 and 2.4-3.3 mg/L respectively. The method was applied to the analysis of the chelate in soil samples as well as in mixtures with other commercial chelates. This study demonstrated that the proposed method was selective, precise, without interferents and robust.

Automated summary

This study developed a new analytical method using high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with a diode array detector for the enantioseparation and determination of a novel iron chelate prototype. By optimizing different variables, efficient separation was achieved. The proposed method showed high selectivity and precision in the analysis of the chelate in soil samples as well as mixtures with other commercial chelates.