Urea analysis by HPLC

[jimmyhu]

Hi there,

Does anyone know some simple methods to analyse urea by HPLC?
Help appreciated.

Cheers
Jimmy

[Uwe Neue]

A silica HILIC column (e.g. Atlantis HILIC), gradient from about 90% to about 60% acetonitrile (10 to 40% water), detection at 210 nm.

[H.Thomas]

It depend on the concentration range you want to measure. I tried methods to determine urea in soil down to 50-100 µg/kg. The only method that worked for this was derivatization with xanthydrol, see:

Clark, Shona; Paul S. Francis, Xavier A. Conlan, Neil W. Barnett: Determination of urea using high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection after automated derivatisation with xanthydrol. 2007. Journal of Chromatography A, 1161, 207-213

You might consider using the colorimetric determination with diacetylmonoxime, that is very sensitive and specific. It can be automated with a CFA/FIA.

You can find a good overview of methods in the following Refs.:

Francis Paul S.; Lewis Simon W.; Lim Kieran F.: Analytical methodology for the determination of urea: current practice and future trends. 2002. Trends in Analytical Chemistry 21 5, 389-400

Lambert,David F., John E. Sherwood and Paul S. Francis: The determination of urea in soil extracts and related samples—a review. 2004. Australian Journal of Soil Research 42 7, 709- 717