ABSTRACT
Purification methods involve extraction, column separations, thin-layer chromatography, high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and gas chromatographic methods. There are two main types of HPLC interfaces in common use today: the spray and flow Fast Atom Bombardment interfaces. Conjugates of cytokinins with higher molecular weight are analyzed using chemical and enzymatic degradation and HPLC separation, prior to the analysis of the parent compound. It is expected in the future that ion-spray mass spectrometry coupled to HPLC will allow the analysis of compounds with much larger molecular weights. Ion spray is a powerful method of getting quasimolecular ions from an HPLC outlet, especially when the solutes are of high molecular weight. High voltage is applied between a nebulizer and a cold chamber, where a nitrogen flow evaporates the solvent at atmospheric pressure. The collimated beam of charged ions is injected, under high voltage, into a magnetic field.
