Monitoring the reactions of cisplatin with nucleotides and methionine by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography using cationic and anionic pairing ions.

Methodology, based on reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography, is described for monitoring the reactions of cisplatin with DNA, nucleotides, and methionine. Cisplatin was determined in DNA ultrafiltrates on solvent-generated anion exchangers which were prepared by coating the surface of a reversed-phase column with hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide. These systems were also applicable to studies on the reactions of cisplatin with nucleotides. The retention of the nucleotides studied (5'-AMP, 5'-GMP, 5'-CMP, and 5'-TMP) was described by means of an ion-exchange model and was manipulated by controlling the phosphate concentration in the mobile phase and its pH. The results indicate that cisplatin interacts predominantly with adenosine and guanosine groups on the DNA molecule and that binding is limited by the rate of conversion to an aquated intermediate. Whereas reversed-phase HPLC systems employing cationic pairing ions were applicable to the analysis of mixtures containing cisplatin and anionic solutes, systems employing alkyl sulfonates were required to monitor the reaction of cisplatin with methionine which produces cationic products. Retention, in this latter system, was optimized by the addition of acetonitrile to the mobile phase and by controlling the concentration and chain length of alkylsulfonate in the mobile phase. Although an octadecylsilylsilica, reversed-phase column was preferred for the analytical separation of the methionine-platinum complexes, a polystyrene-divinylbenzene colume was preferred for preparative work.