HPLC-UV analysis of nicotine

Nicotine is a highly toxic alkaloid. It is the prototypical agonist at nicotinic cholinergic receptors where it strongly stimulates neurons and blocks synaptic transmission. Nicotine is a basic compound (pKa 8.6) and cannot be analyzed by chromatography using conventional reversed-phase approaches because it is eluted without retention. In this application, nicotine was analyzed using ion-pairing chromatography.

Instrumental. Liquid chromatograph  Agilent 1200 which consisted of a quaternary pump, autosampler, column department, and diode-array detector.  Analytes were separated on Zorbax C18 column (150 × 2.1 mm, 3.5 µm, Agilent) using acetonitrile/water (with potassium phosphate 25 mM pH 5.5, dodecyl sulfate 5 mM).