Cyclodextrin-mediated micellar electrokinetic chromatography and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry for the enantiomer separation of racemorphan in human urine.

Micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC) was successfully and conveniently applied to the chiral separation with the addition of cyclodextrins (CDs) as chiral selector to the running buffer. Chiral separation depended on the type of CD; in particular, beta-CD was effective for the chiral separation of racemorphan. We investigated the optimal conditions of type and concentration of CD as chiral selector for the routine enantiomeric separation of racemorphan with good reproducibility. The effects of other parameters such as buffer pH and detection wavelength were also investigated to obtain the optimum conditions for the enantiomeric separation of racemorphan. Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry was used for confirmation of racemorphan. The optimal conditions for enantiomeric separation of the racemorphan were as follows: 50 mM borate buffer at pH 9.4 with 50 mM SDS, 10 mM beta-CD and 20% 1-propanol, 57 cm x 50 microns fused-silica capillary column, and UV detection at 192 nm. Based on the developed method, racemorphan in human urine was also separated and determined using solid-phase extraction and MEKC.     

Chiral separation of synthetic vicinal diol compounds by capillary zone electrophoresis with borate buffer and beta-cyclodextrin as buffer additive.

The investigation on capillary electrophoretic enantioseparation of six synthetic compounds containing vicinal diol groups has been undertaken to acquire the optimum conditions using native beta-cyclodextrin (beta-CD) as chiral selector and borate as a background electrolyte. The separation was carried out in an uncoated capillary (58.5 cm x 75 microm i.d., effective length 48.5 cm) and the effects of several important factors were investigated in detail. The results showed that beta-CD as a chiral selector exhibited good enantioselectivity and that the enantioseparation was greatly influenced by the structure of the diols, the borate concentration and the buffer pH. The optimum performance was obtained for the chiral vicinal diols under the conditions of 200 mM borate buffer of pH 9.8 containing 1.7% beta-CD at an applied voltage of 15 kV and a capillary temperature of 20 degrees C. Under the conditions, four diols were baseline separated with fast analysis time and the good theoretical plate numbers (above 10 x 10(4)) and favorable migration-time reproducibilities (RSDs below 3.0%) were obtained. The separation results were satisfactory.     

Chiral separation of amino acids derivatized with fluoresceine-5isothiocyanate by capillary electrophoresis and laser-induced fluorescence detection using mixed selectors of beta-cyclodextrin and sodium taurocholate

Chiral separation of 20 pairs of amino acids derivatized with fluoresceine-5-isothiocyanate (FITC) by capillary electrophoresis and laser-induced fluorescence detection was studied using the mixture of beta-cyclodextrin (beta-CD) and sodium taurocholate (STC) as selector. Resolution was considerably superior to that obtained by using either beta-CD or STC alone. The molar ratio of beta-CD to STC of about 2:3 was found to be critical to achieve maximum separation. At this beta-CD-to-STC ratio, chiral separation occurred at really low total concentration of beta-CD and STC (<0.1 mM). Other impacting factors were investigated including the total concentration of beta-CD and STC, pH, and capillary conditioning procedure between two successive runs. Using a running buffer of 80 mM borate containing 20 mM beta-CD and 30 mM STC at pH 9.3, all of the 20 pairs of FITC-amino acid enantiomers were baseline resolved. The resolutions of the most pairs of the amino acid enantiomers (17 of 20) were higher than 3.0, only three pairs gave a resolution lower than 3.0 but higher than 1.90 (beta-phenylserine, pSer). The highest resolution reached 14.58 (Glu). Two derivatives of beta-CD, 2-hydroxypropyl-beta-CD (HP-beta-CD) and heptakis(2,6-di-O-methyl)-beta-CD (DM-beta-CD) were also explored. HP-beta-CD showed similar cooperative effect with STC, while DM-beta-CD together with STC led to poorer chiral separation.     

Enantioseparation of cetirizine by sulfated-beta-cyclodextrin-mediated capillary electrophoresis

A sulfated beta-cyclodextrin (sulfated beta-CD)-mediated capillary electrophoresis method is described for the enantioseparation of cetirizine using achiral cefazolin as an internal standard. The enantioseparation of the drug was performed in a borate buffer (5 mM, pH 8.7) with 1% sulfated beta-CD (w/v) as chiral selector at 10 kV. Several parameters affecting the separation were studied, including the pH and the concentration of borate buffer and chiral selector. Under optimized conditions, a baseline separation of two enantiomers was achieved in less than 7 min. Using cefazolin as an internal standard (IS), the linear range of the method for the determination of levocetirizine was over 1.0 to 50.0 microg/mL; the detection limit (signal-to-noise ratio = 3) of levocetirizine was 0.5 microg/mL. The method allowed the enantioseparation of cetirizine in bulk samples and enantiomeric purity evaluation of levocetirizine (R-enantiomer) in pharmaceutical tablets (Xyzal), and it was also found to be suitable for enantioseparation in human plasma.     

Rapid enantiomeric separation of polychlorinated biphenyls by electrokinetic chromatography using mixtures of neutral and charged cyclodextrin derivatives

Electrokinetic chromatography with cyclodextrin derivatives (CD-EKC) was used to achieve the rapid enantiomeric separation of chiral polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Thirteen of the 19 chiral PCBs stable at room temperature were individually separated into their two enantiomers by using 2-morpholinoethanesulfonic acid (MES) buffer (pH 6.5) containing carboxymethylated gamma-cyclodextrin (CM-gamma-CD) as pseudostationary phase mixed with beta-cyclodextrin (beta-CD) or permethylated beta-cyclodextrin (PM-beta-CD). Urea was also added to increase the solubility of PCBs and cyclodextrins in the aqueous separation buffer. Several experimental parameters such as the nature, concentration, and pH of the buffer, nature and concentration of the cyclodextrin derivatives used, and the addition of different additives were studied in order to improve the enantiomeric separation. In addition, the effect of some instrumental parameters such as separation temperature and applied voltage was also investigated. PCBs were enantiomerically separated in less than 12 min by using a 50 mM MES buffer (pH 6.5) containing 20 mM CM-gamma-CD, 10 mM beta-CD or 20 mM PM-beta-CD, and 2 M urea at a temperature of 45 degrees C and an applied voltage of 20 kV.     

Enatiomeric analysis of simendan by CE with beta-CD as chiral selector compared with CMPA-HPLC

The chiral separation of simendan enantiomers using capillary electrophoresis was studied with beta-cyclodextrin (beta-CD) as chiral selector. The influences of the concentration and pH of borate buffer solution, beta-CD concentration and methanol content in the background electrolyte were investigated. These factors were compared with those in an HPLC with beta-CD as chiral mobile phase additive (CMPA-HPLC). The quantification properties of the developed CE method were examined. A baseline separation of simendan enantiomers was achieved in the background electrolyte of 20 mmol/L borate buffer (pH 11.0) containing 12 mmol/L beta-CD-methanol (50:50 in volume ratio). The CE method is comparable with CMPA-HPLC in chiral resolution, although the optimal pH in CE (11.0) is much higher than that (6.0) in CMPA-HPLC. This chiral CE method is applicable to the quantitative ananlysis and enantiomeric excess value determination of L-simendan.     

Capillary electrophoresis of monoamines and catechol with indirect chemiluminescence detection.

A capillary electrophoresis (CE)/indirect chemiluminescence (CL) detection method is described for monoamines, viz., serotonin (5-HT), dopamine (DA), epinephrine (EP), and norepinephrine (NE) and for catechol (CA). Optimal separation and detection were obtained with an electrophoretic buffer of 10 mM sodium borate (pH 9.5) containing 5 mM luminol and 25 mM H2O2, and a catalyst solution of 30 microM CuSO4 in 30 mM borate buffer (pH 10.0). Complete separation of 5-HT, DA, EP, NE and CA was achieved in less than 5 min. The Cu(II)-catalyzed luminol CL reaction was employed to provide the high and constant background. Since monoamines and catechol can form stable complexes with Cu(II), inverted analyte peaks due to decreased catalytic activity of Cu(II) can be detected. The degree of CL suppression is proportional to the analyte concentrations. Linearity (r> or =20.99) over two orders of magnitude was generally obtained. The concentration limits of detection (CLODs) for the monoamines and catechol studied were between 0.5 and 3.1 uM. The relative standard deviation (RSD) values on peak size and migration time were in the ranges 3.2-4.4% and 0.4-0.5%, respectively. The applicability of the method for the analysis of pharmaceutical and biological samples was examined.     

Capillary electrophoresis behavior of water-soluble anionic porphyrins in the presence of beta-cyclodextrin and its O-methylated derivatives

The electrophoretic behavior of water-soluble anionic porphyrins, such as meso-tetrakis(4-carboxyphenyl) porphyrin (TCPP), meso-tetrakis(4-sulfonatophenyl) porphyrin (TSPP) and its zinc(II) and copper(II) complexes (ZnTSPP and CuTSPP, respectively) has been studied by capillary zone electrophoresis using fused-silica capillaries. The selectivity of the separation is strongly dependent on the type and concentration of betacyclodextrin (betaCD) or the O-methylated derivatives added to the background electrolyte. CuTSPP and TSPP can be separated using a pH 2.5 aqueous sodium phosphate buffer in the presence of 1 mM betaCD. Resolution is poorer or absent employing alkylated betaCDs, such as the heptakis (2,6-di-O-methyl)-beta-cyclodextrin or the heptakis(2,3,6-triO-methyl)-beta-cyclodextrin, as additives. On the other hand, separation of TSPP from its copper and zinc complexes has been achieved using a pH 7.0 aqueous sodium phosphate buffer, in the presence of 0.75 mM betaCD and 20% dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) as organic modifier. Under such conditions, the calibration curve for quantitative analysis of copper(II) was obtained. A rationale for the observed behavior will be presented and discussed on the basis of binding and protonation equilibria and a simple mathematical model.     

Migration behavior and enantioseparation of hydrobenzoin and structurally related compounds in capillary zone electrophoresis with a dual cyclodextrin system consisting of heptakis-(2,3-dihydroxy-6-O-sulfo)-beta-cyclodextrin and beta-cyclodextrin

Migration behavior and enantioseparation of racemic hydrobenzoin and structurally related compounds, including benzoin and benzoin methyl ether, in CZE with a dual CD system consisting of heptakis-(2,3-dihydroxy-6-O-sulfo)-beta-CD (SI-S-beta-CD) and beta-CD as chiral selectors in the presence and absence of borate complexation at pH 9.0 were investigated. The results indicate that enantioseparation of hydrobenzoin is mainly governed by CD complexation of hydrobenzoin-borate complexes with SI-S-beta-CD when SI-S-beta-CD concentration is relatively high. Whereas CD complexation of hydrobenzoin-borate complexes with beta-CD plays a significant role in enantioseparation when SI-S-beta-CD concentration is comparatively low. The (S,S)-enantiomer of the hydrobenzoin-borate complex was found to interact more strongly than the corresponding (R,R)-enantiomer with both SI-S-beta-CD and beta-CD. These two types of CD show the same chiral recognition pattern, but they exhibit opposite effects on the mobility of the enantiomers of hydrobenzoin-borate complexes. Enantiomer migration reversal of hydrobenzoin occurred in the presence of borate complexation when varying the concentration of beta-CD, while keeping SI-S-beta-CD at a relatively low concentration. Binding constants of the enantiomers of benzoin-related compounds to beta-CD and those of hydrobenzoin-borate complexes to SI-beta-CD were evaluated; the mobility contributions of all complex species to the effective mobility of the enantiomers of hydrobenzoin as a function of beta-CD concentration in a borate buffer were analyzed. In addition, comparative studies on the enantioseparation of benzoin-related compounds with SI-S-beta-CD and with randomly sulfate-substituted beta-CD were made.     

Enantiomeric separation of synthetic 2,3-dihydroxy-3-phenylpropionate compounds by beta-cyclodextrin-modified capillary electrophoresis

A new capillary electrophoretic method was developed for enantiomeric separation and optical impurity analysis of three synthetic 2,3-dihydroxy-3-phenylpropionate compounds using native beta-cyclodextrin (beta-CD) as chiral selector and borate as a background electrolyte. The separation was carried out in uncoated capillary (58.5 cm x 75 microm I.D., effective length 48.5 cm). The results showed that beta-CD as the chiral selector exhibited good enantioselectivity and the baseline separation was obtained at pH 9.8, 200 mM borate buffer containing 1.7% beta-CD at applied voltage 15 kV and capillary temperature 20 degrees C within 15 min. The precision of each tested compound was less than 1.0% at migration time and 5.0% in corrected peak area and the accuracy of the method was in the range of 98.7-105%. Furthermore, the developed method was successfully applied to the determination of the undesirable trace (2S,3R)-(+)-form impurity in the synthetic (2R,3S)-(-)-2,3-dihydroxy-3-phenylpropionate samples.     

Separation and migration behavior of structurally related phenothiazines in cyclodextrin-modified capillary zone electrophoresis

The influences of buffer pH and the concentration of beta-cyclodextrins (beta-CDs) on the separation and migration behavior of 13 structurally related phenothiazines in CD-modified capillary zone electrophoresis (CD-CZE) using a phosphate background electrolyte at low pH were investigated. We focused on the separation of these phenothiazines, including the enantiomers of chiral analytes, with the use of beta-CD and hydroxypropyl-beta-CD (HP-beta-CD) as electrolyte modifiers or chiral selectors at concentrations less than 8 mM. The results indicate that the interactions of phenothiazines with beta-CDs are very strong and that effective separations of 13 analytes can be achieved with addition of 0.3 mM beta-CD or 0.5 mM HP-beta-CD in a phosphate buffer at pH 3.0. Binding constants of phenothiazines to beta-CDs were evaluated for a better understanding of the interactions of phenothiazines with beta-CDs.     

The use of a highly sulfated cyclodextrin for the simultaneous chiral separation of amphetamine-type stimulants by capillary electrophoresis

We investigated the simultaneous chiral separation of nine amphetamine type stimulants (dl-norephedrine, dl-norpseudoephedrine, dl-ephedrine, dl-pseudoephedrine, dl-amphetamine, dl-methamphetamine, dl-methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA), dl-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), and dl-methylenedioxyethylamphetamine (MDEA)) by capillary electrophoresis using highly sulfated gamma-cyclodextrin (SU(XIII)-gamma-CD) as a chiral selector. Three different approaches using SU(XIII)-gamma-CD with 50 mM phosphate background electrolyte were designed; (I) high CD concentration (10 mM SU(XIII)-gamma-CD) at neutral pH (pH 7.0) in the normal polarity mode, (II) low CD concentration (1.0 mM) at low pH (pH 2.6) in the normal polarity mode and (III) high CD concentration at low pH (pH 2.6) in the reversed-polarity mode. In mode (II), the effects of adding three neutral CDs (beta-CD, dimethyl-beta-CD and hydroxypropyl-beta-CD) were also investigated. The best separation was obtained after optimizing mode (III) as follows: run buffer of 10 mM SU(XIII)-gamma-CD with 50 mM phosphate background electrolyte at pH 2.6, applied voltage of -12 kV and capillary temperature of 15 degrees C.     

Chiral capillary electrophoretic separation of amino acids derivatized with 9-fluorenylmethylchloroformate using mixed chiral selectors of beta-cyclodextrin and sodium taurodeoxycholate

Chiral separation of 19 pairs of amino acid (AA) enantiomers derivatized with 9-fluorenylmethylchloroformate (FMOC) was successfully conducted by capillary electrophoresis using the mixture of beta-CD and sodium taurodeoxycholate (STDC) as selectors. Resolution was considerably superior to that obtained by using either beta-CD or STDC alone. After a systematic inspection, a buffer composed of 150 mM borate and 18% v/v isopropanol at pH 8.0, dissolved with 30 mM beta-CD and 30 mM STDC, was adopted and able to generate baseline resolution (>1.50) for 17 pairs of FMOC-AA enantiomers and somewhat lower resolution for arginine (1.36) and alanine (1.18), respectively. Experimental data revealed that the addition of the second selector did not increase the mobility difference between a pair of enantiomers (Delta mu = mu(D) - mu(L) and the number of theoretical plates (N), but decreased the summed apparent mobility of a pair of enantiomers (Sigma mu = mu(D) - mu(L)), which was mainly due to the decrease of the electroosmotic flow. The variation of Sigma mu was thus the major reason responsible for the improvement of chiral resolution in this study. The result demonstrated that not only the intrinsic selectivity of the selectors was the basis of the chiral separation, but also the non-chiral effect of the selectors, the change of the electroosmotic flow, was an important factor in enhancing the enantioseparation resolution. This study could probably help to explain the reasons for resolution improvement in some dual selectors systems, which are not very clear at present.     

Determination of the chiral and achiral related substances of methotrexate by cyclodextrin-modified micellar electrokinetic chromatography

A cyclodextrin-modified micellar electrokinetic chromatographic (CD-MEKC) method for the determination of the most important potential impurities of methotrexate (MTX): 2,4-diamino-6-(hydroxymethyl)pteridine, aminopterine hydrate, 4-[N-(2-amino-4-hydroxy-6-pteridinylmethyl)-N-methylamino] benzoic acid, 4-[N-(2,4-diamino-6-pteridinylmethyl)-N-methylamino] benzoic acid, and the distomer D-MTX is presented. The MEKC separation of these compounds was optimized by applying a step-by-step approach. The addition of beta-CD to a conventional MEKC system, based on sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) as surfactant, showed to be essential for the enantioresolution of racemic MTX as well as for the separation of the achiral impurities. To achieve high-resolution factor between the peaks adjacent to the main component (L-MTX), as required in the analysis of related impurities, the separation conditions were stressed; in particular, the addition of methanol to the CD-MEKC system resulted in a very effective choice. Under the optimized final conditions (100 mM SDS and 45 mM beta-CD in a mixture of 50 mM borate buffer, pH 9.30-methanol (75:25 v/v)), the method was validated showing a general adequate accuracy (93-106% recovery) in the determination of L-MTX related substances at the impurity level of 0.12% w/w with a relative standard deviation (RSD)% lower than 8% (n = 4). The method was successfully applied to the analysis of pharmaceuticals (tablets and injections) which showed to contain the distomer D-MTX as major impurity and aminopterine hydrate as a further related substance in the commercial tablets.     

Enantiomeric separation of citalopram and its metabolites by capillary electrophoresis

A simple and fast capillary electrophoretic method has been developed for the enantioselective separation of citalopram and its main metabolites, namely N-desmethylcitalopram and N,N-didesmethylcitalopram, using beta-cyclodextrin (beta-CD) sulfate as the chiral selector. For method optimisation several parameters were investigated, such as CD and buffer concentration, buffer pH, and capillary temperature. Baseline enantioseparation of the racemic compounds was achieved in less than 6 min using a fused-silica capillary, filled with a background electrolyte consisting of a 35 mM phosphate buffer at pH 2.5 supplemented with 1% w/v beta-CD sulfate and 0.05% w/v beta-CD at 25 degrees C and applying a voltage of -20 kV. A fast separation method for citalopram was also optimized and applied to the analysis of pharmaceutical formulations. Racemic citalopram was resolved in its enantiomers in less than 1.5 min using short-end injection (8.5 cm, effective length) running the experiments in a background electrolyte composed of a 25 mM citrate buffer at pH 5.5 and 0.04% w/v beta-CD sulfate at a temperature of 10 degrees C.     

Optimised separation of endogenous urinary components using cyclodextrin-modified micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography

In this study both native and chemically modified cyclodextrins (CDs) were investigated as buffer additives to improve the micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography (MEKC) separation of endogenous bioanalytes in human urine. The following CDs were investigated: alpha, beta, gamma-CDs; hydroxypropyl-alpha-CD, hydroxypropyl-beta-CD, methylated beta-CD, sulphated beta-CD, sulphobutyl ether-beta-CD and hydroxypropyl-gamma-CD. The separations were compared to MEKC without additives. The best improvement in peak resolution and separation of urine components was observed with the sulphated beta-CD. A four-factor three-level full factorial design study was conducted on voltage, temperature, pH and sulphated beta-CD molarity. The optimum conditions were 25 mM sodium tetraborate, pH 9.5, 75 mM sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) and 6.25 mM sulphated beta-CD and were able to resolve 70 peaks from a urine pool in 12 min. These optimum conditions have been successfully applied to a number of clinical samples.     

Study on separation of aristolochic acid I and II by micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography and competition mechanism between SDS and beta-cyclodextrin

In this study, a rapid MEKC method using 40 mM sodium borate buffer containing 50 mM SDS as surfactant was developed for the analysis of aristolochic acid (AA) in Aristolochia plants. Baseline separation of AA-I and AA-II was achieved within 3 min with high separation efficiency, satisfactory sensitivity, repeatability, and recovery. Resolution between AA-I and AA-II is above 5 and great performance with higher than 200,000 theoretical plate numbers was obtained. The detection limits (based on 3 S/N) were both 1.0 microg/mL. Two kinds of AA in 35 herbal samples of Aristolochia plants were successfully determined. The competition mechanism between beta-CD and SDS was also investigated by changing the content ratio of beta-CD and SDS.     

Enantioseparations of hydrobenzoin and structurally related compounds in capillary zone electrophoresis using heptakis(2,3-dihydroxy-6-O-sulfo)-beta-cyclodextrin as chiral selector and enantiomer migration reversal of hydrobenzoin with a dual cyclodextrin system in the presence of borate complexation

We investigated the enantioseparations of racemic hydrobenzoin, together with benzoin and benzoin methyl ether, in capillary electrophoresis (CE) using the single-isomer heptakis(2,3-dihydroxy-6-O-sulfo)-beta-cyclodextrin (SI-S-beta-CD) as a chiral selector in the presence and absence of borate complexation and enantiomer migration reversal of hydrobenzoin with a dual CD system consisting of SI-S-beta-CD and beta-CD in the presence of borate complexation at pH 9.0 in a borate buffer. The enantioselectivity of hydrobenzoin increased remarkably with increasing SI-S-beta-CD concentration and the enantioseparation depended on CD complexation between hydrobenzoin-borate and SI-S-beta-CD. The (S,S)-enantiomer of hydrobenzoin-borate complexes interacted more strongly than the (R,R)-enantiomer with SI-S-beta-CD. The enantiomers of hydrobenzoin could be baseline-resolved in the presence of SI-S-beta-CD at a concentration as low as 0.1% w/v, whereas the three test analytes were simultaneously enantioseparated with addition of 0.3% w/v SI-S-beta-CD or at concentrations >2.0% w/v in a borate buffer and 0.5% w/v in a phosphate background electrolyte at pH 9.0. Compared with the results obtained previously using randomly sulfated beta-CD (MI-S-beta-CD) in a borate buffer, enantioseparation of these three benzoin compounds is more advantageously aided by SI-S-beta-CD as the chiral selector. The enantioselectivity of hydrobenzoin depended greatly on the degree of substitution of sulfated beta-CD. Moreover, binding constants of the enantiomers of benzoin compounds to SI-S-beta-CD and those of hydrobenzoin-borate complexes to SI-S-beta-CD were evaluated for a better understanding of the role of CD complexation in the enantioseparation and chiral recognition. Enantiomer migration reversal of hydrobenzoin could be observed by varying the concentration of beta-CD, while keeping SI-S-beta-CD at a relatively low concentration. SI-S-beta-CD and beta-CD showed the same chiral recognition pattern but they exhibited opposite effects on the mobility of the enantiomers.     

Separation and migration behavior of positional and structural naphthalenesulfonate isomers by cyclodextrin-mediated capillary electrophoresis

The effects of the type of buffer system, buffer pH, the polarity of electrode, and both the type and the concentration of cyclodextrins (CDs) on the separation and migration behavior of seven positional and structural naphthalenesulfonate isomers in CD-mediated capillary electrophoresis were systematically investigated. The most effective separation conditions were to use 20 mM phosphate buffer with beta-CD at pH 3.0, while the polarity of the electrodes were reversed across the capillary. Under such conditions, these isomers can be separated in 10 min. The results also indicate that the interactions of naphthalenesulfonate derivatives with CDs are strongly affected by the position of the substituent(s) on the aromatic ring. The inclusion complex formation constants of these compounds were evaluated to improve our understanding of the interaction between the naphthalenesulfonate derivatives and CDs. Moreover, the formation constants of naphthalene-2-sulfonate to beta-CD agreed closely with the data in the literature obtained by a spectrophotometric method and by CE methods in various pH buffers.     

Conformational separation of monosaccharides of glycoproteins labeled with 2-aminoacrydone using microchip electrophoresis

The conformational separation of monosaccharides labeled with fluorescent 2-aminoacrydone (AMAC) was performed by electrophoresis on a plastic microchip with light-emitting diode confocal fluorescence detection. The AMAC-labeled five neutral monosaccharide mixture (D-glucose (Glc), D-mannose, D-galactose, L-fucose, and D-xylose) or two amino monosaccharide mixture (N-acetyl-D-glucosamine and N-acetyl-D-galactosamine) were well separated at pH 8.5 and 0.5% w/v methylcellulose of 200 mM borate buffer conditions using microchip electrophoresis. The separation was successfully performed considering the difference in stability of the complex between the hydroxyl residue of the monosaccharide and borate ions, and we found that 200 mM and pH 8.5 of borate buffer conditions were critical. High-speed separation for the neutral monosaccharides (50 s) and for amino monosaccharides (70 s) was attained at a 400 V/cm of electric field condition, showing all peak resolutions were greater than 0.9% and RSD of mobility were less than 1.9%. The detection limits of 0.86 microM for Glc and <1 microM for all other monosaccharides were enhanced with the addition of 0.5% w/v methylcellulose to the buffer. These attainments are fully compatible with conventional CE. The analysis of the subtle differences in the conformational stability and the value of the hydroxyl residue of the borate complex allowed the development of an efficient prospective tool for attaining high-resolution separation of monosaccharide mixtures having complicated and analogous conformations.