Cobalt complex compounds stereoisomers

The method of choice for the determination of most vitamins is HPLC due to its high separation capability, its mild analytical conditions, and the possibility to use various specifically adapted detection methods, e.g., LTV, fluorescence, or MS detection. All fat-soluble vitamins and most water-soluble vitamins have chromophores suitable for UV detection. Separation of vitamers and stereoisomers can be achieved. If a higher sensitivity is required HPLC with fluorescence detection can be used, either directly (e.g., vitamins A and E) or after derivatization (e.g., thiamine). A further improvement in sensitivity and specificity has been achieved by introducing HPLC with mass spectrometric detection in vitamin analysis. Due to the structural information retrievable, e.g., molecular mass, fragmentation pattern, this is the method of choice for analysis of samples with complex mixtures or low vitamin concentrations. Examples for the use of HPLC-MS in vitamin analysis include the determination of 25-hydroxy-D3 and pantothenic acid. However, one drawback of mass spectrometry is the need for an isotopically labeled reference compound for reliable quantification. Due to the structural complexity of many vitamins, these reference compounds are often expensive and difficult to synthesize. An interesting unique application is the determination of vitamin B12 by HPLC-IPC-MS, which is possible due to its cobalt content. 

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