Retention-structure relationship studies for some steroidal hormones in micellar liquid chromatography

Summary

The retention behavior in a C₁₈ column of fourteen steroidal hormones (clostebol acetate, dehydrotestosterone, dydrogesterone, medroxyprogesterone, medroxyprogesterone acetate, methandienone, methyltestosterone, nandrolone, nandrolone decanoate, progesterone, testosterone, testosterone enanthate, testosterone propionate and, stanozolol) with pure micellar mobile phases prepared from sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), and hybrid mobile phases comprising SDS-acetonitrile and SDS-pentanol, was correlated with their octanol-water partition coefficients. Similar correlations were found with retention data obtained by other authors in gas chromatography, conventional reversed-phase liquid chromatography, and micellar electrokinetic chromatography. The retention of the steroids depended on the nature of the R₁₇ substituent in the steroid tetracyclic system. Steroids of low, intermediate, and high retention had hydroxyl, acetyl, and ester groups, respectively. The retention of nandrolone was, however, abnormally high in the presence of micelles, because of the absence of a methyl group at R₁₀. Retention of the compounds in the micellar mobile phases was also evaluated in terms of their solute-micelle and solute-stationary phase association constants.