EOF measurement by detection of a sampling zone with end-channel amperometry in microchip CE

A simple method for EOF measurement by detection of sampling zones with end-channel amperometry in microchip CE is developed. This method is based on the principle of the Kohlrausch regulating function (KRF). A dilute electroactive ionic species is added to the BGE as a continuously eluting electrophore which is used as a probe. When a BGE-like sample at a different concentration is injected, a peak of sampling zone appears and the migration time is related to EOF. In a microchip CE with hybrid PDMS/glass channel, a cathodic EOF of the hybrid glass/PDMS microchip was measured by end-channel amperometry; the effects of sample concentration and different probes on EOF rate were discussed. The present method was applied to monitor EOF rates in glass and in PDMS microchips. There was no significant difference between the values of EOF rates measured by the present method and the current-monitoring method. Detection of nonelectroactive analytes K(+), Na(+), and Li(+) can also be accomplished by the indirect amperometric method. Hence, the effective mobility of analyte can be accurately obtained.     

Separation of organic and inorganic arsenic species by capillary electrophoresis using direct spectrophotometric detection

Capillary electrophoresis (CE) with UV detection was used for the determination of arsenite, arsenate, monomethylarsonic acid, dimethylarsinic acid, p-aminophenylarsonic acid, 4-hydroxy-3-nitrobenzenearsonic acid, 4-nitrophenylarsonic acid, phenylarsonic acid, and phenylarsine oxide. The electrophoretic mobilities of these anionic species were determined in a 20 mM phosphate buffer in a pH range from 4 to 11, which established pH 10 as the optimum for the separation. The target analytes were then separated in a fused-silica capillary using 20 mM NaHCO(3)-Na(2)CO(3) buffer, pH 10, as electrolyte and detected at 192 nm. Both normal- and reversed electroosmotic flow (EOF) separation modes were investigated and in the latter case, poly(diallydimethylammonium chloride) (PDDAC), was used for dynamic coating of the capillary and to provide a stable and reproducible reversed EOF (relative standard deviation RSD, 0.39%). The influence of electrolyte pH and composition, applied voltage, as well as EOF reversal protocols upon the method performance criteria were investigated. The optimised method provided limits of detection for the target analytes of 1.62, 6.22, 1.45, 1.83, 0.34, 0.40, 0.40, 0.18, and 0.30 mg/L As, respectively. Linearity was obtained in the range of 0.5-40 mg/L As (for aryl compounds) and from 5-100 mg/L As (for the remaining analytes). Reproducibility of peak areas was in the range of 0.8-5.5% RSD. The method was applied to the determination of four aryl arsenic compounds used as additives in animal feed. Analytes were extracted with 40 mM hydrochloric acid - acetonitrile 4:1 v/v, and then cleaned up by passing through a C(18) solid-phase extraction cartridge before analysis by CE with detection at 200 nm. Recoveries for the four analytes were in the range of 78.8-108.3%.     

Design of experiments for micellar electrokinetic chromatography method development for the monitoring of water-soluble vitamins in cell culture medium

Biopharmaceutical production takes place in complex processes which should be thoroughly understood. Therefore, the iConsensus project focuses on developing a monitoring platform integrating several process analytical technology tools for integrated, automated monitoring of the biopharmaceutical process. Water-soluble vitamin monitoring using (microchip) capillary electrophoresis (CE) is part of this platform. This work comprises the development of conventional CE methods as the first part towards integrated vitamin monitoring. The vitamins were divided based on their physical–chemical properties to develop two robust methods. Previously, a method for the analysis of cationic vitamins (pyridoxine, pyridoxal, pyridoxamine, thiamine and nicotinamide) in cell culture medium was developed. This work focused on the development of a micellar electrokinetic chromatography method for anionic and neutral vitamins (riboflavin, d -calcium pantothenate, biotin, folic acid, cyanocobalamin and ascorbic acid). By employing multivariate design of experiments, the background electrolyte (BGE) could be optimised within one experiment testing only 11 BGEs. The optimised BGE conditions were 200 mM borate with 77 mM sodium dodecyl sulphate at a pH of 8.6. Using this BGE, all above-mentioned cationic, anionic and neutral vitamins could be separated in clean samples. In cell culture medium, most anionic and neutral vitamins could be separated. Combining the two methods allows for analysis of cationic, anionic and neutral vitamins in cell culture medium samples. The next step towards integrated vitamin monitoring includes transfer to microchip CE. Due to the lack of fast and reliable methods for vitamin monitoring, the developed capillary methods could be valuable as stand-alone at-line process analytical technology solutions as well.     

Separation of arsenic species by capillary electrophoresis with sample-stacking techniques

A simple capillary zone electrophoresis procedure was developed for the separation of arsenic species (AsO(2)(2-), AsO(4)(2-), and dimethylarsinic acid, DMA). Both counter-electroosmotic and co-electroosmotic (EOF) modes were investigated for the separation of arsenic species with direct UV detection at 185 nm using 20 mmol L(-1) sodium phosphate as the electrolyte. The separation selectivity mainly depends on the separation modes and electrolyte pH. Inorganic anions (Cl(-), NO(2)(-), NO(3)(-) and SO(4)(2-)) presented in real samples did not interfere with arsenic speciation in either separation mode. To improve the detection limits, sample-stacking techniques, including large-volume sample stacking (LVSS) and field-amplified sample injection (FASI), were investigated for the preconcentration of As species in co-CZE mode. Less than 1 micromol L(-1) of detection limits for As species were achieved using FASI. The proposed method was demonstrated for the separation and detection of As species in water.     

采用隔离池的毛细管电泳-间接紫外吸收法测定茶叶中的氨基酸

改进的毛细管电泳-间接紫外吸收法采用了自制隔离池,以对氨基苯甲酸(PAB)为背景电解质,对茶叶中的氨基酸进行了测定。PAB能够提高分离效率,降低检出限。隔离池的使用避免了PAB的电极反应,降低了基线噪声,维持了两缓冲液池间的电流导通。研究了背景电解质的浓度、pH值以及电渗流改性剂的种类和浓度对氨基酸分离的影响。在优化的实验条件下,16种氨基酸在14 min内达到了基线分离,峰面积的相对标准偏差小于5%(n=5),检出限为1.7~4.5 μmol/L,回收率为83.0%~106%。该法快速、便捷和灵敏,已成功应用于茶叶中11种游离氨基酸的检测。     

Effects of electrolyte modification and capillary coating on separation of glycoprotein isoforms by capillary electrophoresis

The capillary electrophoresis (CE) running electrolyte composition was optimized for the separation of selected glycoproteins. A good separation of the ovalbumin (OV) and alpha-acid glycoprotein (AAG) isoforms was achieved in 20 mmol x L(-1) N-(2-hydroxyethyl)piperazine-2'-(2-ethanesulfonic acid) (HEPES) at pH 7.0, in 20 mmol x L(-1) phosphate, pH 7.0, or in 25 mmol x L(-1) borate, pH 7.9. Various ways of suppression of the glycoprotein adsorption onto the capillary wall were compared. Alpha, omega-diamine alkanes and bis(aminoalkyl) amines were added to the CE buffers, the optimized concentration being 1 mmol x L(-1) in 20 mmol x L(-1) phosphate buffer. The OV and AAG isoforms could be separated using all the alpha,omega-diamine alkanes or bis(2-aminoethyl)amine. The length of the alkyl chain in the diaminoalkane did not influence the separation. The separation of the isoforms of pollen allergens was also tested. The effects of modification of the capillary wall by succinyl-poly-L-lysine and hydrophilic CElect-P1 capillary were compared. A decrease in the glycoprotein and protein adsorption resulted in an improved separation of the isoforms.     

A highly sensitive method for enantioseparation of fenoprofen and amino acid derivatives by capillary electrophoresis with on-line sample preconcentration

A highly sensitive method for enantioseparation of trace fenoprofen and amino acid derivatives by capillary electrophoresis (CE) with vancomycin as the chiral selector was developed. Several CE techniques, such as the partial filling, large-volume sample stacking with EOF as pump plus anion-selective exhaustive injection (LVSEP-ASEI) were involved in the present method to improve the detection sensitivity. With on-column concentration, enantioseparation of racemic fenoprofen and six 9-fluorenylmethyl chloroformate (FMOC)-amino acid derivatives (at the concentration level of ng/mL) with the background electrolyte composed of 100 mmol/L Tris-H(3)PO(4) (pH 6.0) and 2 mmol/L vancomycin was detected readily with the UV detection at 214 nm. Successfully performing LVSEP-ASEI needs a very low EOF that could be depressed by coating the capillary with poly(dimethylacrylamide) solution. The coating also played a role to minimize the adsorption of vancomycin onto the capillary wall. Effect of the injected sample volume and the electrokinetic injection time on the peak area of the enantiomers and their resolution factor were investigated and optimized. Under the optimized conditions, more than 1000-fold enhancement in detection sensitivity compared with the normal injection was achieved.     

Piperazine-based buffers for liposome coating of capillaries for electrophoresis

Anionic liposomes can be coated on fused-silica capillaries for electrophoresis in the presence of N-(hydroxyethyl)piperazine-N'-(2-ethanesulfonic acid) (HEPES) as background electrolyte (BGE) solution. In this work, the interaction of various compounds with zwitterionic and anionic phospholipid coatings was studied with HEPES at pH 7.4 as BGE solution. The chromatographic and electrophoretic behavior of three test sample solutions (anionic, cationic, and neutral) was investigated for evaluation of the phospholipid coatings. Our results show that hydrophobic interactions between analytes and the phospholipid coating are important for the migration of charged analytes. In addition, the performances of other piperazine-based buffers, i.e., N-(2-hydroxyethyl)piperazine-N'-(2-hydroxypropanesulfonic acid), piperazine-N,N'-bis(2-ethanesulfonic acid), and piperazine-N,N'-bis(hydroxypropane sulfonic acid), at pH 7.4, as liposome solvent and BGE solution were evaluated and compared with the performance of HEPES at pH 7.4. The anionic liposome solution comprised 80/20 mol% phosphatidylcholine/phosphatidylserine. A simple test solution was selected and the chromatographic and electrophoretic migration behavior of the analytes was evaluated. The results show that, in addition to HEPES, other piperazine-based buffers at pH 7.4 are suitable for coating of fused-silica capillaries with anionic liposomes.     

Flow manipulation for sweeping with a cationic surfactant in microchip capillary electrophoresis

Flow manipulation in sweeping microchip capillary electrophoresis (CE) is complicated by the free liquid communication between channels at the intersection, especially when the electroosmotic flows are mismatched in the main channel. Sweeping in traditional CE with cationic micelles is an effective way to concentrate anionic analytes. However, it is a challenge to transfer this method onto microchip CE because the dynamic coating process on capillary walls by cationic surfactants is interrupted when the sample solution free of surfactants is introduced into the microchip channels. This situation presents a difficulty in the sample loading, injection and dispensing processes. By adding surfactant at a concentration around the critical micelle concentration and by properly designing the voltage configuration, the flows in a microchip were effectively manipulated and this sweeping method was successfully moved to microchip CE using tetradecyltrimethylammonium bromide (TTAB). The sweeping effect of cationic surfactant in the sample solution was discussed theoretically and studied experimentally in traditional CE. The flows in a microchip were monitored with fluorescence imaging, and the injection and sweeping processes were studied by locating the detection point along the separation channel. A detection enhancement of up to 500-fold was achieved for 5-carboxyfluorescein.     

Characteristics of the electroosmotic flow of electrolyte systems for nonaqueous capillary electrophoresis

Nonaqueous capillary electrophoresis (NACE) is a powerful tool for the analysis of surface-active substances, which represent a broad class of analytes containing cationic and anionic species, such as surfactants, phosphoric acid esters, and amines. In order to conduct an efficient method development in NACE, the influence of the electrolyte composition on the electroosmotic flow (EOF) of organic separation systems was systematically investigated. Background electrolytes and background chromophores appropriate for direct and indirect UV-detection were considered, as the majority of surface-active substances do not absorb UV-light. It was found that theoretical models developed to describe the EOF in aqueous electrolyte systems are insufficient for organic electrolyte systems. Experimental data on electroosmosis in a variety of organic solvents and mixtures of methanol and acetonitrile applying different background chromophores and basic or acidic additives are given. Differences between them are discussed with relation to the physicochemical properties of the organic solvents.     

Development of capillary electrophoresis for the determination of metal ions using mixed partial and complete complexation techniques

A new capillary electrophoretic (CE) method was developed for the selective and sensitive determination of common metal ions. The proposed method is based on conventional CE separation of metal cations followed by complete complexation of separated analytes with 1,10-phenanthroline using the zone-passing technique. This approach combines both partial and complete complexation modes and, thus, enables rapid, selective, efficient separation together with sensitive direct UV detection of metal species. The optimal conditions for the separation and derivatization reaction were established by varying type of electrolyte, electrolyte pH, introduction time and concentration of 1,10-phenanthroline. The optimized separations were carried out in 50 mmol l(-1) glycolic acid electrolyte (pH 6.0 with imidazole) using direct UV detection at 254 nm. Five common metal cations (Fe2+, Co2+, Ni2+, Cu2+ and Zn2+) were separated in less than 4 min. The proposed system was applied to the determination of Fe(II) and Zn(II) in snow samples. The recovery tests established for snow samples were within the range 100+/-12%.     

托吡卡胺对映体的毛细管电泳-方波安培分离检测

采用毛细管电泳-方波安培检测法,在熔融石英毛细管(75 μm i.d.×50 cm)中,以7 mmol/L 三羟甲基氨基甲烷(Tris)-10 mmol/L柠檬酸-2 mmol/L硼酸-15mmol/L β-环糊精 （β-CD） (pH 3.0)为电泳介质,采用重力进样,高度差为20 cm,进样时间为10 s,在分离电压为15 kV,方波平衡电位+0.8 V的条件下,实现了托吡卡胺对映体的分离检测。线性范围为5~750 μmol/L,检出限为2 μmol/L。对影响分离度的因素β-CD浓度、硼酸浓度及p     

Low EOF rate measurement based on constant effective mobility in microchip CE

A new method for quickly determining low EOF rates (micro(EOF)) in microchip CE is described. The measurement is based on the notion that the effective mobility (micro(eff)) of an analyte is a constant in a certain BGE. The micro(eff) of an analyte is determined in a reference fast-electroosmosis microchip, and the apparent mobility (micro(app)) of the analyte can be determined in the microchip with unknown low electroosmosis, and then micro(EOF) in the low-electroosmosis microchip can be calculated according to the equation mu(EOF) = micro(app) - micro(eff). By an indirect method or other conventional methods, micro(eff) can be easily measured in the reference microchip. The proposed method is particularly useful for low-electroosmosis measurements in wall-modified microchannels.     

亲水作用色谱柱与阳离子交换树脂柱结合分离无机离子（英文）

A combination of hydrophilic interaction chromatographic(HILIC) column and a weakly acidic cation-exchange resin(WCX) column was used for simultaneous separation of inorganic anions and cations by ion chromatography(IC).Firstly,the capability of HILIC column for the separation of analyte ions was evaluated under acidic eluent conditions.The columns used were SeQuant ZIC-HILIC(ZIC-HILIC) with a sulfobetaine-zwitterion stationary phase(ZIC-HILIC) and Acclaim HILIC-10 with a diol stationary phase(HILIC-10).When using tartaric acid as the eluent,the HILIC columns indicated strong retentions for anions,based on ion-pair interaction.Especially,HILIC-10 could strongly retain anions compared with ZIC-HILIC.The selectivity for analyte anions of HILIC-10 with 5 mmol/L tartaric acid eluent was in the order of I-> NO-3 > Br-> Cl-> H2PO-4.However,since HILIC-10 could not separate analyte cations,a WCX column(TSKgel Super IC-A/C) was connected after the HILIC column in series.The combination column system of HILIC and WCX columns could successfully separate ten ions(Na+,NH+4,K+,Mg2+,Ca2+,H2PO-4,Cl-,Br-,NO-3 and I-) with elution of 4 mmol/L tartaric acid plus 8 mmol/L 18-crown-6.The relative standard deviations(RSDs) of analyte ions by the system were in the ranges of 0.02%-0.05% in retention times and 0.18%-5.3% in peak areas through three-time successive injections.The limits of detection at signal-to-noise ratio of 3 were 0.24-0.30 μmol/L for the cations and 0.31-1.2 μmol/L for the anions.This system was applied for the simultaneous determination of the cations and the anions in a vegetable juice sample with satisfactory results.     

Influence of polymer structure on electroosmotic flow and separation efficiency in successive multiple ionic layer coatings for microchip electrophoresis

The effect of successive multiple ionic layer (SMIL) coatings on the velocity and direction of EOF and the separation efficiency for PDMS electrophoresis microchips was studied using different polymer structures and deposition conditions. To date, the majority of SMIL studies have used traditional CE and fused-silica capillaries. EOF was measured as a function of polymer structure and number of layers, in one case using the same anionic polymer and varying the cationic polymer and in the second case using the same cationic polymer and varying the anionic polymer. In both situations, the EOF direction reversed with each additional deposited polymer layer. The absolute EOF magnitude, however, did not vary significantly with layer number or polymer structure. Next, different coatings were used to compare separation efficiencies on native and SMIL-coated PDMS microchips. For native PDMS microchips, the average separation efficiency was 4105 +/- 1540 theoretical plates. The addition of two layers of polymer increased the separation efficiency anywhere from two- to five-fold, depending on the polymer structure. A maximum separation efficiency of 12 880 +/- 1050 theoretical plates was achieved for SMIL coatings of polybrene (cationic) and dextran sulfate (anionic) polymers after deposition of six total layers. It was also noted that coating improved run-to-run consistency of the peaks as noted by a reduction of the RSD of the EOF and separation efficiency. This study shows that the use of polyelectrolyte coatings, irrespective of the polymer structure, generates a consistent EOF in the current experiments and dramatically improves the separation efficiency when compared to unmodified PDMS microchips.     

Separation and determination of vanadium in fertiliser by capillary electrophoresis with a light-emitting diode detector

A method has been developed for determination of vanadium, as an anionic ternary complex of vanadium(V) with 4-(2-pyridylazo) resorcinol (PAR) and hydrogen peroxide, after separation by capillary electrophoresis (CE). The optimum conditions for the formation of the ternary complex were acetate buffer (3 mmol L(-1)) at pH 6 containing 0.15 mmol L(-1) PAR and 7.1 mmol L(-1) H(2)O(2). The CE separation was conducted using 15 mmol L(-1) acetate buffer at pH 6 as the background electrolyte; the separation potential was -30 kV and the injection time 100 s. The vanadium complex was detected photometrically at 568 nm, by use of a light-emitting diode (LED); the detection limit was 19 ppb. The method was applied to the analysis of vanadium in fertilisers. Clean-up of the digested fertiliser sample, with Sep-Pak C(18) coated with tetrabutylammonium hydroxide, before analysis was used to remove matrix ions which otherwise caused electrophoretic de-stacking. Vanadium levels found in the fertiliser samples by use of the CE method were found to be comparable with results obtained by HPLC and ICP-MS.     

Transient isotachophoresis of highly saline trace metals under strong electroosmotic flow conditions

Transient isotachophoresis (TITP) is usually performed under low-electroosmotic flow (EOF) conditions using a coated capillary or a low pH background electrolyte. We used a bare fused-silica capillary for TITP stacking of anionic complexes of some heavy metals under high-EOF conditions (pH 9.0). The sample component chloride as a leading electrolyte induced stacking by an isotachophoretic mechanism and the complexing agent 4-(2-pyridylazo) resorcinol (PAR) acted as a terminating electrolyte. The optimized background electrolyte was composed of 150 mM N-tris(hydroxymethyl)methyl-3-aminopropanesulfonic acid, 127 mM triethylamine, and 0.1 mM PAR at pH 9.0. The strong EOF at pH 9.0 pulled the analytes against their mobilities toward the outlet side, allowing a separation in the normal polarity mode. The stacking efficiency, reproducibility, analysis time, and sample loading capacity in coated and bare capillaries were compared. The stacking efficiency and reproducibility were higher and the analysis time was shorter in the coated capillary. However, a larger volume of a sample could be injected in the bare capillary to achieve detection limits comparable to those for the coated one without compromising the resolution between the analyte peaks. The limits of detection (S/N = 3) were in the sub-ppb range for the selected metals (Fe2+, 0.3 ppb; Ni2+, 0.16 ppb; and Zn2+, 0.8 ppb) in a standard saline sample with 250 mM NaCl matrix. The proposed method was successfully applied to the analysis of reference urine samples and human urine samples.     

毛细管电泳中影响径向电场控制电渗的主要因素

利用自制的二维电场毛细管电泳系统研究了不同因素对径向电场控制电渗能力的影响,发现缓冲液的ｐＨ值、浓度、种类以及管壁表面状态、管径等对电渗的电场调控有关键性的影响。有趣的是,添加剂不影响电场的调控能力,而杯芳烃涂层毛细管却能提高电渗对径向电场的响应能力。利用这种涂层效应有可能实现较高ｐＨ值下电渗的电场调控。     

Polymeric ionic liquid-coated capillary for capillary electrophoresis

A new application of the polymeric ionic liquid (PIL) in capillary electrophoresis is reported. Poly(1-vinyl-3-butylimidazolium bromide) was physically adsorbed on silica capillary as the simple and effective coating for capillary electrophoresis (CE) analysis, in which the PIL is not present in the background electrolyte. The electroosmotic flow (EOF) of the PIL-coated capillary as compared with that of the bare fused-silica capillary shows a different dependence on electrolyte pH values. The EOF is reversed over a wide pH range from 3.0 to 9.0 and shows good repeatability. It is also found that the coated capillary has a good tolerance to some organic solvents, 0.1 M NaOH and 0.1 M HCl. The PIL-coated capillary has been employed in different areas. Both the basic proteins and anionic analytes can be well separated by PIL-coated capillaries in a fast and easy way. The PIL-coated capillary is also able to separate organic acid additives in a grape juice. The results showed that this type of coating provides an alternative to the CE separation of anions and basic proteins.     

CE of phytosiderophores and related metal species in plants

Phytosiderophores (PS) and the closely related substance nicotianamine (NA) are key substances in metal uptake into graminaceous plants. Here, the CE separation of these substances and related metal species is demonstrated. In particular, the three PS 2'-deoxymugineic acid (DMA), mugineic acid (MA), and 3-epi-hydroxymugineic acid (epi-HMA), and NA, are separated using MES/Tris buffer at pH 7.3. Moreover, three Fe(III) species of the different PS are separated without any stability problems, which are often present in chromatographic analyses. Also divalent metal species of Cu, Ni, and Zn with the ligands DMA and NA are separated with the same method. By using a special, zwitterionic CE capillary, even the separation of two isomeric Fe(III) chelates with the ligand ethylenediamine-N,N'-bis(o-hydroxyphenyl)acetic acid (EDDHA) is possible (i.e., meso-Fe(III)-EDDHA and rac-Fe(III)-EDDHA), and for fast separations of NA and respective divalent and trivalent metal species, a polymer CE microchip with suppressed EOF is described. The proposed CE method is applicable to real plant samples, and enables to detect changes of metal species (Cu-DMA, Ni-NA), which are directly correlated to biological processes.