Investigation of the effect of ionic strength of Tris-acetate background electrolyte on electrophoretic mobilities of mono-, di-, and trivalent organic anions by capillary electrophoresis

The effect of ionic strength of the background electrolyte (BGE) composed of tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane (Tris) and acetic acid on the electrophoretic mobility of mono-, di- and trivalent anions of aliphatic and aromatic carboxylic and sulfonic acids was investigated by capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE). Actual ionic mobilities of the above anions were determined from their CZE separations in Tris-acetate BGEs of pH 8.1 to 8.2 in the 3 to 100 mM ionic strength interval at constant temperature (25 degrees C). It was found that the ionic strength dependence of experimentally determined actual ionic mobilities does not follow the course supposed by the classical Onsager theory. A steeper decrease of actual ionic mobilities with the increasing ionic strength of BGE and a higher estimated limiting mobility of the anions than that found in the literature could be attributed to the specific behavior of the Tris-acetate BGEs. Presumably, not only a single type of interaction of anionic analytes with BGE constituents but rather the combination of effects, such as ion association or complexation equilibria, seems to be responsible for the observed deviation of the concentration dependence of the actual ionic mobilities from the Onsager theory. Additionally, several methods for the determination of limiting ionic mobilities from CZE measured actual ionic mobilities were evaluated. It turned out that the determined limiting ionic mobilities significantly depend on the calculation procedure used.     

Reliable electrophoretic mobilities free from Joule heating effects using CE

Ionic electrophoretic mobilities determined by means of CE experiments are sometimes different when compared to generally accepted values based on limiting ionic conductance measurements. While the effect of ionic strength on electrophoretic mobility has been long understood, the increase in the mobility that results from Joule heating (the resistive heating that occurs when a current passes through an electrolyte) has been largely overlooked. In this work, a simple method for obtaining reliable and reproducible values of electrophoretic mobility is described. The electrophoretic mobility is measured over a range of driving powers and the extrapolation to zero power dissipation is employed to eliminate the effect of Joule heating. These extrapolated values of electrophoretic mobility can then be used to calculate limiting ionic mobilities by making a correction for ionic strength; this somewhat complicated calculation is conveniently performed by using the freeware program PeakMaster 5. These straightforward procedures improve the agreement between experimentally determined and literature values of limiting ionic mobility by at least one order of magnitude. Using Tris-chromate BGE with a value of conductivity 0.34 S/m and ionic strength 59 mM at a modest dissipated power per unit length of 2.0 W/m, values of mobility for inorganic anions were increased by an average of 12.6% relative to their values free from the effects of Joule heating. These increases were accompanied by a reduction in mobilities due to the ionic strength effect, which was 11% for univalent and 28% for divalent inorganic ions compared to their limiting ionic mobilities. Additionally, it was possible to determine the limiting ionic mobility for a number of aromatic anions by using PeakMaster 5 to perform an ionic strength correction. A major significance of this work is in being able to use CE to obtain reliable and accurate values of electrophoretic mobilities with all its benefits, including understanding and interpretation of physicochemical phenomena and the ability to model and simulate such phenomena accurately.     

Capillary electrophoresis applied for the determination of acidity constants and limiting electrophoretic mobilities of ionizable herbicides including glyphosate and its metabolites and for their simultaneous separation

Thermodynamic acidity constants and limiting ionic mobilities were determined for polyprotic non-chromophore analytes using capillary electrophoresis with capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detection. It was not necessary to work with buffers of identical ionic strength as ionic strength effects on effective electrophoretic mobilities were corrected by modeling during data evaluation (software AnglerFish). The mobility data from capillary electrophoresis coupled to conductivity detection were determined in the pH range from 1.25 to 12.02 with a high resolution (36 pH steps). With this strategy, thermodynamic acidity constants and limiting ionic mobilities for various acidic herbicides were determined, sometimes for the first time. The model analytes included glyphosate, its metabolites, and its acetylated derivates (aminomethyl phosphonic acid, glyoxylic acid, sarcosine, glycine, N-acetyl glyphosate, N-acetyl aminomethyl phosphonic acid, hydroxymethyl phosphonic acid). The obtained data were used in simulations to optimize separations by capillary electrophoresis. Simulations correlated very well to experimental results. With the new method, the separation of glyphosate from interfering components like phosphate in beer samples was possible.     

Determination of cationic mobilities and pKa values of 22 amino acids by capillary zone electrophoresis

The effective mobilities of the cationic forms of common amino acids--mostly proteinogenic--were determined by capillary zone electrophoresis in acidic background electrolytes at pH between 2.0 and 3.2. The underivatized amino acids were detected by the double contactless conductivity detector. Experimentally measured effective mobilities were fitted with the suitable regression functions in dependence on pH of the background electrolyte. The parameters of the given regression function corresponded to the values of the actual mobilities and the mixed dissociation constants (combining activities and concentrations) of the compound related to the actual ionic strength. McInnes approximation and Onsager theory were used to obtain thermodynamic dissociation constants (pK(a)) and limiting (absolute) ionic mobilities.     

CE determination of the thermodynamic pKa values and limiting ionic mobilities of 14 low molecular mass UV absorbing ampholytes for accurate characterization of the pH gradient in carrier ampholytes-based IEF and its numeric simulation

Fourteen low molecular mass UV absorbing ampholytes containing 1 or 2 weakly acidic and 1 or 2 weakly basic functional groups that best satisfy Rilbe's requirement for being good carrier ampholytes (ΔpK_a = pKa_monoanion ‒ pKa_monocation < 2) were selected from a large group of commercially readily available ampholytes in a computational study using two software packages (ChemSketch and SPARC). Their electrophoretic mobilities were measured in 10 mM ionic strength BGEs covering the 2 < pH < 12 range. Using our Debye-Hückel and Onsager-Fuoss laws-based new software, AnglerFish (freeware, https://echmet.natur.cuni.cz/software/download ), the effective mobilities were recalculated to zero ionic strength from which the thermodynamic pK_a values and limiting ionic mobilities of the ampholytes were directly calculated by Henderson-Hasselbalch equation-type nonlinear regression. The tabulated thermodynamic pK_a values and limiting ionic mobilities of these ampholytes (pI markers) facilitate both the overall and the narrow-segment characterization of the pH gradients obtained in IEF in order to mitigate the errors of analyte ampholyte pI assignments caused by the usual (but rarely proven) assumption of pH gradient linearity. These thermodynamic pK_a and limiting mobility values also enable the reality-based numeric simulation of the IEF process using, for example, Simul (freeware, https://echmet.natur.cuni.cz/software/download ).     

Determination of binding constants of multiple charged cyclodextrin complexes by ACE using uncorrected and ionic strength corrected actual mobilities of the species involved

In this study, the apparent binding constants and limiting mobilities of the multiply charged complexes of the Δ− and Λ−enantiomers of Ru(II)- and Fe(II)-polypyridyl associates ([Ru(2,2′-bipyridine)₃]²⁺, [Ru(1,10-phenanthroline)₃]²⁺, and [Fe(1,10-phenanthroline)₃]²⁺) with single-isomer 2,3-diacetylated-6-sulfated-cyclodextrins (CDs) (12Ac-6S-α-CD, 14Ac-7S-β-CD, and 16Ac-8S-γ-CD) were determined by ACE using uncorrected and ionic strength corrected actual mobilities of the species involved. Two limiting models were tested for the ionic strength correction of the actual mobilities based on an empirical relation for the ionic strength correction of multivalent ionic species. In model 1, the nominal values of the charge numbers (z_S,nom) and analytical concentrations (c_S,nom) of the above CD selectors in the BGEs were applied for calculation of the BGE ionic strength, as usual. In model 2, the CD selectors were considered as singly charged species (z_S = −1) with |z_S,nom|-times higher concentrations in the BGE than their analytical concentrations (c_S = |z_S,nom| × c_S,nom) in the calculation of the BGE ionic strength. In all three cases–with uncorrected actual mobilities as well as with actual mobilities corrected according to the two limiting models–the measured effective mobilities of the above enantiomers fit well the theoretical curves of their mobility dependences on the CD selectors concentrations in the BGE, with high average coefficients of determination (R² = 0.9890–0.9995). Nevertheless, the best physico-chemically meaningful values of the apparent binding constants and the limiting mobilities of the enantiomer-CDs complexes with low RSDs were obtained using the actual mobilities of the species involved corrected according to model 2.     

Determination of thermodynamic acidity constants and limiting ionic mobilities of weak electrolytes by capillary electrophoresis using a new free software AnglerFish

Thermodynamic acidity constants (acid or acid-base dissociation constants, sometimes called also as ionization constants) and limiting ionic mobilities (both of them at defined temperature, usually 25°C) are the fundamental physicochemical characteristics of a weak electrolyte, that is, weak acid or weak base or ampholyte. We introduce a novel method for determining the data of a weak electrolyte by the nonlinear regression of effective electrophoretic mobility versus buffer composition dependence when measured in a set of BGEs with various pH. To correct the experimental data for zero ionic strength we use the extended Debye-Hückel model and Onsager-Fuoss law with no simplifications. Contrary to contemporary approaches, the nonlinear regression is performed on limiting mobility data calculated by PeakMaster's correction engine, not on the raw experimental mobility data. Therefore, there is no requirement to perform all measurements at a constant ionic strength of the set of BGEs. We devised the computer program AnglerFish that performs the necessary calculations in a user-friendly fashion. All thermodynamic pKa values and limiting electrophoretic mobilities for arbitrarily charged substances having any number of ionic forms are calculated by one fit. The user input consists of the buffer composition of the set of BGEs and experimentally measured effective mobilities of the inspected weak electrolyte.     

A family of single-isomer,sulfated gamma-cyclodextrin chiral resolving agents for capillary electrophoresis: octa(6-O-sulfo)-gamma-cyclodextrin

The second member of the single-isomer, sulfated gamma-cyclodextrin family, the sodium salt of octa(6-O-sulfo)-gamma-cyclodextrin (OS) has been synthesized, characterized and used to separate the enantiomers of nonelectrolyte, acidic, basic, and ampholytic analytes by capillary electrophoresis in acidic aqueous background electrolytes. The anionic effective mobilities of the nonelectrolyte and anionic analytes increased with increasing concentration of OS. The effective mobilities of strongly complexing cationic analytes became anionic with very low OS concentrations and passed local anionic effective mobility maxima as the OS concentration, and along with it, the ionic strength, of the background electrolyte increased. The effective mobilities of the weakly binding cationic analytes became only slightly anionic at high OS concentration values and did not show the local anionic effective mobility maxima. For nonelectrolyte analytes, separation selectivities decreased with increasing OS concentration. For cationic analytes, separation selectivities were highest where the effective mobilities of the less mobile enantiomers approached zero. OS proved to be a broadly applicable chiral resolving agent.     

Determination of acidity constants,ionic mobilities,and hydrodynamic radii of carborane-based inhibitors of carbonic anhydrases by capillary electrophoresis

Capillary electrophoresis (CE) has been applied for determination of the thermodynamic acidity constants (pK_a) of the sulfamidoalkyl and sulfonamidoalkyl groups, the actual and limiting ionic mobilities and hydrodynamic radii of important compounds, eight carborane-based inhibitors of carbonic anhydrases, which are potential new anticancer drugs. Two types of carboranes were investigated, (i) icosahedral cobalt bis(dicarbollide)(1-) ion with sulfamidoalkyl moieties, and (ii) 7,8-nido-dicarbaundecaborate with sulfonamidoalkyl side chains. First, the mixed acidity constants, pK_a^mix, of the sulfamidoalkyl and sulfonamidoalkyl groups of the above carboranes and their actual ionic mobilities were determined by nonlinear regression analysis of the pH dependences of their effective electrophoretic mobility measured by capillary electrophoresis in the pH range 8.00−12.25, at constant ionic strength (25 mM), and constant temperature (25°C). Second, the pK_a^mix were recalculated to the thermodynamic pK_as using the Debye–Hückel theory. The sulfamidoalkyl and sulfonamidoalkyl groups were found to be very weakly acidic with the pK_as in the range 10.78−11.45 depending on the type of carborane cluster and on the position and length of the alkyl chain on the carborane scaffold. These pK_as were in a good agreement with the pK_as (10.67−11.27) obtained by new program AnglerFish (freeware at https://echmet.natur.cuni.cz ), which provides thermodynamic pK_as and limiting ionic mobilities directly from the raw CE data. The absolute values of the limiting ionic mobilities of univalent and divalent carborane anions were in the range 18.3−27.8 TU (Tiselius unit, 1 × 10⁻⁹ m²/Vs), and 36.4−45.9 TU, respectively. The Stokes hydrodynamic radii of univalent and divalent carborane anions varied in the range 0.34−0.52 and 0.42−0.52 nm, respectively.     

Chiral separation of local anaesthetics with capillary electrophoresis

Summary A chiral capillary electrophoresis system for the highresolution separation of the enantiomers of the local anaesthetics mepivacaine, ropivacaine, bupivacaine and prilocaine is described. Triethanolamine was added to the background electrolyte to obtain a negative electroosmotic flow and hence higher resolutions. The interactions of the local anaesthetics and their chemical analogues with the chiral selector, dimethyl--cyclodextrin, were studied. From a model describing chiral capillary electrophoresis, the association equilibrium constants were determined by curve-fitting. The separation of mepivacaine, ropivacaine and bupivacaine was due to the different mobilities of the free analytes in solution, whereas the separation of a pair of enantiomers of a single analyte was due to differences between the association equilibrium constantsK ₁ andK ₂. Branching of the alkyl chain, which was situated close to the cavity in the inclusion complex, had strong effects on the chiral separation of the enantiomers.     

Synthesis and characterization of novel anionic siloxane polymers as pseudostationary phases for electrokinetic chromatography

Four novel siloxane polymeric pseudostationary phases with three different ionic head groups have been synthesized and characterized for electrokinetic chromatography. Siloxane polymers are of interest in this application because of the wide range of chemistries that can be developed based on these backbones, including much of the chromatographic stationary phase chemistry developed in the last thirty years. All four of the siloxanes studied were synthesized by modification of a single methylhydrosiloxane polymer with highly acidic anionic functionalities. One of the siloxanes had both ionic groups and alkane chains attached to the siloxane backbone. The electrophoretic mobilities varied from being somewhat less than sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) to being much greater than SDS. The siloxanes substituted with ionic groups at all of the silicon sites showed significant nonequilibrium band broadening, severely limiting the efficiencies of these polymers. Substitution of 20% of the silicon sites with an alkyl group improved the efficiency of the separations and the peak symmetry. The chemical selectivities of the siloxane polymers are very different from SDS, but are similar to each other.     

Dielectric friction as a mechanism for selectivity alteration in capillary electrophoresis using acetonitrile-water media

The mobilities of a series of aromatic carboxylates and sulfonates, ranging in charge from -1 to -4, were investigated as a function of acetonitrile concentration in the electrophoretic buffer. Absolute mobilities were determined by extrapolation of the effective mobilities to zero ionic strength according to the Pitts' equation. In general, anions of higher charge were more strongly influenced by ionic strength, with similarly charged anions experiencing ionic strength effects that were not significantly different at the 95% confidence level. Furthermore, the relative magnitudes of the Onsager slopes varied with acetonitrile content according to the z/(etaepsilon(1/2)) dependence in the electrophoretic effect of the Pitt's equation. Addition of acetonitrile to the electrophoretic media resulted in changes in the absolute mobilities of the anions. These acetonitrile-induced selectivity alterations were attributed to dielectric friction. As predicted by the Hubbard-Onsager model of dielectric friction, changes in sulfonate mobility were shown to correlate to changes in solvent viscosity (eta), dielectric constant (epsilon), and relaxation time (tau). The combined effects of ionic strength and dielectric friction caused analytes with higher charge-to-size ratios to be slowed to a greater extent upon addition of acetonitrile compared to those with lower charge-to-size. For example, at 75% acetonitrile and 20 mM ionic strength, a migration order reversal occurred between the triply and singly charged sulfonates.     

Capillary electrophoresis in aqueous-organic media. Ionic strength effects and limitations of the Hubbard-Onsager dielectric friction model

The mobilities of three aromatic sulfonates, ranging in charge from -1 to -3, were investigated by capillary electrophoresis using buffers containing 0 to 75% ethanol or 2-propanol. Absolute mobilities were determined by extrapolation of the effective mobilities to zero ionic strength according to the Pitts' equation. For all buffers studied, ions of higher charge experienced larger ionic strength effects. The resulting ionic strength-induced selectivity alterations were more dramatic when organic solvents were present in the media. Furthermore, for different organic modifier types and contents, the magnitude of the ionic strength effect was governed to a large extent by the 1/(eta epsilon 1/2) dependence in the electrophoretic effect of the Pitts' equation. Addition of ethanol or 2-propanol to the electrophoretic media resulted in changes in the absolute mobilities of the ions. These solvent-induced mobility changes are attributed to dielectric friction. As predicted by the Hubbard-Onsager model, dielectric friction increased with increasing organic content and with increasing analyte charge. As a result, dramatic changes in the relative absolute mobilities were observed, such as a reversal in migration order between sulfonates of -1 and -3 charge in 75% 2-propanol. Within the alcohols, the Hubbard-Onsager model was successful at predicting the relative mobility trends upon changing solvent. However, the relative trends observed between acetonitrile-water and alcohol-water media were not consistent with the model. This may be explained by the continuum nature of the model, whereby the different ion-solvent interactions characteristic to each solvent class are not taken into account.     

Physicochemical characterization of phosphinic pseudopeptides by capillary zone electrophoresis in highly acidic background electrolytes

Phosphinic pseudopeptides (i.e., peptide isosteres with one peptide bond replaced by a phosphinic acid moiety) were analyzed and physicochemically characterized by capillary zone electrophoresis in the pH range of 1.1-3.2, employing phosphoric, phosphinic, oxalic and dichloroacetic acids as background electrolyte (BGE) constituents. The acid dissociation constant (pK(a)) of phosphinate group in phosphinic pseudopeptides and ionic mobilities of these analytes were determined from the pH dependence of their effective electrophoretic mobilities corrected to standard temperature and constant ionic strength of the BGEs. It was shown that these corrections are necessary whenever precise mobility data at very low pH are to be determined. Additionally, it was found that the ionic mobilities of the phosphinic pseudopeptides and pK(a) of their phosphinate group are affected by the BGE constituent used. The variability of migration behavior of the pseudopeptides can be attributed to their ion-pairing formation with the BGE components.     

Ion-pair association and acid-base equilibria in nonaqueous capillary electrophoresis of weakly basic compounds

CE in nonaqueous media was used to study the migrating behavior of two weakly basic s-triazine pesticides and one of their metabolites. The target pesticides were selected to be representative for each of the two main groups: propazine and deethylatrazine for the chloro-s-triazines group and ametryn for the methylthio-s-triazines group. To elucidate the phenomena involved, systematic studies were carried out in the different organic media studied. Absolute mobilities were determined in 50% v/v methanol (MeOH)/ACN by extrapolation of the effective mobilities to zero ionic strength in the presence of different concentrations of perchloric acid. Conductivity measurements performed in MeOH and 50 and 20% v/v methanol/ACN permitted the evaluation of the associations of the components of the BGE. The effects of ionic strength on the actual mobilities of the compounds were determined in the presence of perchloric acid and SDS in different organic media. Two different ion-pair equilibria were considered: one due to the presence of perchlorate anions present in the BGE and second that from the added dodecyl sulfate anions. Bearing in mind that these weakly basic compounds can exhibit ion-pair and acid-base equilibria, the acid-base and ion-pair parasite reaction coefficients were determined. Finally, the effects of ionic strength, ion-pair interactions and acid-base properties on the effective electrophoretic mobilities of the analytes are discussed.     

Isoelectric buffers, part 3: determination of pKa and pI values of diamino sulfate carrier ampholytes by indirect UV-detection capillary electrophoresis

Ampholytes with close pK(a) values (i.e., good carrier ampholytes (CAs)) are needed as buffers in pH-biased isoelectric trapping (IET) separations. The syntheses of two families of such good CAs were reported recently. Members of the family of diamino sulfate ampholytes (first series) had pI values in the 5.7 < pI < 9.0 range. Members of the family of quaternary ammonium dicarboxylic acid ampholytes (second series) had pI values in the pI < 4.3 range. To further characterize the diamino sulfate ampholytes, their effective mobilities were measured by indirect UV-absorbance detection capillary electrophoresis in a series of background electrolytes (BGEs) with different pH values. The pK(a) and limiting ionic mobility values of the CAs were obtained by fitting these mobility values, as a function of the pH and the ionic strength of the BGEs, to the theoretical mobility expression. These diamino sulfates complete the list of CAs suitable for IET separations.     

Electrophoretic mobility of the polymer-like micelles of tetradecyldimethylamine oxide hemihydrochloride

Effects of the surfactant concentration C_d and the NaCl concentration C_s on the electrophoretic mobilities U of the well-characterized polymer-like micelles have been investigated by the electrophoretic light scattering, using tetradecyldimethylamine oxide hemihydrochloride (C14DMAO·1/2HCl). At the high ionic strength of 0.1 mol kg⁻¹ NaCl, the electrophoretic mobilities were independent of C_d (5 mM < C_d < 100 mM), despite the concentration-dependent micelle growth of the polymer-like micelles. This suggests that the electrophoretic mobility of the polymer-like micelle at high ionic strengths is independent of the contour length (i.e., the molecular weight), as found on linear polyelectrolytes. Somewhat surprisingly, the entanglements of the polymer-like micelles gave small effect on the electrophoretic mobilities in the examined range of the surfactant concentration above an overlap concentration. The mobilities of the polymer-like micelle decreased with √C_s in a single exponential manner in the range of C_s from 0.02 to 0.3 mol kg⁻¹. It is suggested that the cylinder model can be applied to the electrophoretic mobilities of the polymer-like micelles at high ionic strengths (i.e. a free-draining behavior), since the persistence length of the polymer-like micelle (20 nm) is much larger than the Debye length at high ionic strength.     

Determination of thermodynamic pKa values of benzimidazole and benzimidazole derivatives by capillary electrophoresis

Thermodynamic pK_a values for benzimidazole and several substituted benzimidazoles were determined by CE. Electrophoretic mobilities of benzimidazoles were determined by CE at different pH levels and ionic strengths. The dependence of electrophoretic mobilities on pH was used to obtain pK_a values at different ionic strengths. Extrapolations to zero ionic strength were used to determine the thermodynamic pK_a values. Using this method the thermodynamic pK_a values of 15 benzimidazoles were determined and found to range from 4.48 to 7.38. Results from the CE measurements were compared with spectrophotometric measurements which were evaluated at wavelengths where the highest absorbance difference for varying pH was recorded. The two analytical techniques were in good agreement.     

Determination of local anaesthetics in body fluids by gas chromatography with surface ionization detection

Ten local anaesthetics were tested for their detection by gas chromatography (GC)-surface ionization detection (SID). Lidocaine, mepivacaine and bupivacaine were detected with the highest sensitivity; their detection limit was 5-10 pg in an injected volume. The sensitivity of other drugs, such as procaine, dibucaine tetracaine and oxybuprocaine, was an order of magnitude lower than that of the above three local anaesthetics. A detailed procedure for isolation of local anaesthetics from human whole blood and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) by the use of Sep-Pak C18 cartridges, before the GC-SID, is also presented. The recovery of lidocaine, mepivacaine and bupivacaine, which had been added to 1 ml of whole blood or CSF, was close to 100%.