The purpose of this work is to explore the highly promising capabilities of Micellar Liquid Chromatography as a powerful technique for chemical analysis and physico-chemical studies in biomedical research. The proposal involves a systematic investigation of the use of Micellar LC for: characterization of physio-chemical properties of biologically important molecules and environmental pollutants; the study of the energetics and mechanisms of solute-micelle interactions and their effects on retention and selectivity in Micellar LC, and the development of rapid and sensitive methods for the analysis of biochemical compounds. A total of six projects are proposed in these three main areas which are of much current interest due to their intrinsic significance, and because of their impact on a broad range of disciplines other than separation sciences; from pharmaceutical chemistry to biotechnology. In the first part, the aim is to apply micellar LC for the quantitation of hydrophobic character of organic compounds. Characterization of hydrophobicity has both a diagnostic and predictive value in various disciplines such as drug design, toxicology, and environmental monitoring. Micellar LC offers clear advantages over both classical methods and RPLC with traditional binary solvents for estimation of hydrophobicity. In the second part of this study, the aim is to better define the physico-chemical basis of retention and selectivity in micellar LC through a careful design of experiments to highlight the significance of solute-micelle interactions. Finally, in the third part, the aim is to demonstrate the unique capabilities of micellar LC for chemical analysis which are especially advantages in solving bioanalytical problems.
