Quaternary phosphonium salts are widely used in medicine as selective growth inhibitors of cancer cells of the pancreas [1] and as bioblockers of metabolic processes in brain and heart mitochondria [2]. The analytical chemistry of quaternary phosphonium salts is represented in the scientific literature by unstable inclusion complexes in which calix-crown ethers are used as "hosts" [3]. Secondary ion mass spectroscopy was proposed for the study and quantitative determination of different phosphonium salts [4].The preliminary physicochemical studies of diiodobromides of P-containing organic cations, 3-carboxypropyltriphenylphosphonium ( I ) and tetraphenylphosphonium( II ), established their composition, structure, and stability [5,6].The goal of this work was to develop procedures for the separation and quantitative determination of I and II by capillary electrophoresis. Capillary electrophoresis in both standard [7] and modified versions [8-10] is characterized by high sensitivity, selectivity, rapidity of operation and processing of the results of analyses, and rather low cost and is one of the most often used methods for determining cations. A spectrophotometric method based on the conversion of organic diiodohalides to the corresponding triiodides was used as a control method for the quantitative determination of the above-mentioned compounds.
EXPERIMENTALThe determination of analytes was carried out using an alternating-polarity Kapel'-103R high-efficiency capillary electrophoresis instrument with an UV detector. Data acquisition and processing were conducted using IBM PC supplied with Mul'tikhrom software. The signals were detected indirectly by photometry at 253.7 nm against a benzimidazole buffer solution (pH 5.25). The analysis was performed at a working voltage of 10 kV, which was maintained constant in all the experiments. For separation, an unmodified silicafused capillary with an inner diameter of 75 µ m, a length of 60 cm, and a distance from the sample injection port to the detector window of 50 cm ( L eff / L total = 50/60 cm) was used. The capillary was prepared for the experiments by washing with 0.1 M NaOH solution for 2 min, with water to remove NaOH traces, and with the buffer solution for 15 min. Between experiments, the capillary was washed with the carrier electrolyte for 3 min. Samples were injected hydrodynamically at a pressure of 30 mbar within 5 s.The concentrations of analytes were determined by the external standard method using calibration graphs constructed for each individual compound. To prepare standard solutions, accurately weighed samples of diiodobromides I and II were dissolved in 25-mL volumetric flasks in a 1 : 5 mixture of water and ethanol. The solutions of the required concentrations were prepared from the stock solutions and used for constructing the calibration graphs.When I and II were determined by the spectrophotometric method, the charge transfer absorption band of the triiodide ion was measured in 1.0-cm cells at 290 and 367 nm using an SF-46 spectrophotometer. A...