On the perspectives of capillary electrophoresis modes for the determination of morphine in human plasma without sample pretreatment

Screening and confirmation of drugs of abuse in body fluids are important for the medicinal treatment and form the legal basis of court judgments. A fast and precise identification of toxic substances is necessary. Morphine was determined in human plasma by capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) and micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography (MECC) using sample stacking mode. The electrophoretic separation was performed in an uncoated fused-silica capillary, 70 cm long to the detector, with an additional 10 cm to the cathode (75 microm i.d. and 360 microm o.d.). The UV absorbance detection was set at 190 nm. The electrophoretic buffers were prepared from 60 to 300 mm disodium tetraborate decahydrate, pH 10.5. Sodium dodecyl sulfate was added to the final solution in a concentration of 60 mm for MECC. All electrophoretic separations were carried out at 10 kV and the capillary temperature was ambient (25 degrees C). A linear calibration graph was obtained in the concentration range studied (50-5000 ng/mL). Several samples of drug-free plasma were checked for potential endogenous interference and the results showed no interference from the endogenous components, which co-migrated with morphine. As little as 50 ng/mL of morphine could be successfully analyzed by MECC in the concentration mode with acceptable precision. It is possible to determine morphine directly in plasma at therapeutic concentrations.     

Separation and determination of alkyl sulfate surfactants in wastewater by capillary electrophoresis coupled with contactless conductivity detection after preconcentration by simultaneous adsorption using alumina beads

The aim of the present study is to determine four anionic alkyl sulfate (AS) surfactants with different alkyl chains, namely, C8, C10, C12, and C14, in wastewater by CE with capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detection (CE-C⁴D). The conditions effective for the separation of the four AS surfactants were systematically optimized and found to be in a Tris-His (50 mM/20 mM) BGE solution at a pH of 8.95, using a separation voltage of +15 kV, hydrodynamic injection by siphoning using a 20 cm injection height and an injection time of 20 s. The LODs for C8, C10, C12, and C14 were 2.58, 2.30, 2.08, and 3.16 mg/L, respectively. The conditions used to achieve the simultaneous adsorption and preconcentration of the AS surfactants using Al₂O₃ beads were pH of 3 and 0.1 mM NaCl. The adsorption efficiencies were found to be 45.6, 50.8, 81.7, and 99.9%, while the desorption efficiencies reached 66.1, 70.4, 83.9, and 100.0% for C8, C10, C12, and C14, respectively. The concentrations of the AS surfactants in wastewater samples were quantified by CE-C⁴D after preconcentration by simultaneous adsorption using Al₂O₃ beads. The results obtained from the proposed method were consistent with those obtained by HPLC-MS/MS, with a deviation of less than 15%. Our results indicate that the CE-C⁴D performed after preconcentration by an adsorption technique using Al₂O₃ beads is a new, inexpensive, and suitable method for quantifying AS surfactants in wastewater samples.     

On-line sample enrichment for the determination of proteins by capillary zone electrophoresis with poly(vinyl alcohol)-coated bubble cell capillaries

Field-amplified sample stacking (FASS) is used to separate basic proteins in a poly-(vinyl alcohol)-coated bubble cell capillary. To our knowledge, this is the first paper describing the on-column stacking of proteins (as cations) using FASS in bubble cell capillary. The bubble cell capillary is fabricated using a one-step method. Cetyltrimethylammonium chloride is added into the running buffer to reverse the EOF and, thus, to pump the water plug out during the sample stacking step. The effect of the water plug lengths and sample injection durations were investigated and optimized. The results obtained were compared with those for the normal capillary without bubble cell in terms of resolution and sensitivity enhancement. Under the optimal condition, this method can improve the sensitivity of the peak areas ranging from 5000- to 26 000-fold. The RSDs (n = 5) of the migration time and peak area are satisfactory (less than 0.6 and 12%, respectively). Application of the capillary electrophoresis method with bubble cell, FASS, and UV detection thereby leads to the determination of these proteins at concentrations ranging from 3 to 10 ng/mL, based on a signal-to-noise ratio of 3:1.     

Novel covalently coated diazoresin/polyvinyl alcohol capillary column for the analysis of proteins by capillary electrophoresis

A novel method for the preparation of covalently linked capillary coatings of PVA was demonstrated using photosensitive diazoresin (DR) as coupling agents. Layer‐by‐layer self‐assembly film of DR and PVA based on hydrogen bonding was first fabricated on the inner wall of capillary, then the hydrogen bonding was converted into covalent bonding after treatment with UV light through the unique photochemistry reaction of DR. The covalently bonded coatings suppressed basic protein adsorption on the inner surface of capillary, and thus a baseline separation of lysozyme, cytochrome c and BSA was achieved using CE. Compared with bare capillary or noncovalently bonded DR/PVA coatings, the covalently linked DR/PVA capillary coatings not only improved the CE separation performance for proteins, but also exhibited good stability and repeatability. Due to the replacement of highly toxic and moisture‐sensitive silane coupling agent by DR in the covalent coating preparation, this method may provide a green and easy way to make the covalently coated capillaries for CE.     

液液萃取-场放大进样-毛细管电泳非接触式电导分离检测酱油中的安赛蜜

采用场放大进样(FASI)-毛细管电泳非接触式电导检测法(CE-C⁴D),结合液液萃取(LLE)的样品净化预处理技术,分离检测了酱油中人工合成甜味剂安赛蜜。酱油样品经酸化后,用乙酸乙酯作为萃取剂,成功地消除了酱油中含有的大量无机盐等复杂基体对微量安赛蜜的干扰。实验对影响LLE萃取效率和FASI-CE-C⁴D分离检测的关键因素进行了讨论,特别是对样品净化前处理过程中萃取剂及用量、样品酸化pH值、萃取时间、萃取温度等条件进行了优化。结果表明,酱油中的安赛蜜可获得良好分离和灵敏检测,检出限和定量限分别为0.15 mg/kg和0.48 mg/kg。对市售酱油样品进行安赛蜜的加标回收测定,得到加标回收率为92.3%～108.1%,相对标准偏差<8.0%。该法具有简单快速、灵敏高效、分析成本低的优点,能满足酱油中安赛蜜的分析检测要求。     

A novel technique for on-capillary preconcentration of anionic compounds applied to the trace analysis of rapamycin in human blood by capillary electrophoresis

A capillary electrophoretic (CE) method with UV detection at 278 nm has been developed for analysis of the immunosuppressant rapamycin (sirolimus) in human blood at low microg.L(-1) levels. Separation has been achieved in an acidic carrier electrolyte containing sodium dodecyl sulfate and 20% v/v methanol. For sample cleanup and preconcentration, both an off-line solid-phase extraction step using a silica-based reversed-phase material and a newly developed on-capillary focusing technique have been employed. The subsequent treatment of rapamycin under alkaline conditions leads to a cleavage of the lacton bond of the molecule, generating a negatively charged carboxylic group which allows electrokinetic injection into the CE instrument. During the injection process, the negatively charged analyte migrates into an acidic carrier electrolyte, so that it becomes neutral due to protonation and is focused at the capillary inlet. Injection times of 300 s at -7.5 kV could be applied without band-broadening. Results for real samples indicated that the method is fully suited for routine applications and may be an attractive alternative to established liquid chromatographic techniques.     

In-line coupling of microextractions across polymer inclusion membranes to capillary zone electrophoresis for rapid determination of formate in blood samples

Polymer inclusion membranes (PIMs) have several important features, i.e., PIMs are dry and non-porous membranes, which can be prepared ahead of use and stored without noticeable deterioration in extraction performance. In this contribution, in-line coupling of microextractions across PIMs to a separation method for clinical purposes was demonstrated for the first time. Formate (the major metabolite in methanol poisoning) was determined in undiluted human serum and whole blood by capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) with simultaneous capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detection (C⁴D) and UV–Vis detection. A purpose-made microextraction device with PIM was coupled to a commercial CZE instrument in order to ensure complete automation of the entire analytical procedure, i.e., of formate extraction, injection, CZE separation and quantification. PIMs for formate extractions consisted of 60% (w/w) cellulose triacetate as base polymer and 40% (w/w) Aliquat™ 336 as anion carrier. The method was characterized by good repeatability of peak areas (≤7.0%) and migration times (≤0.8%) and by good linearity of calibration curves (r² = 0.993–0.999). Limits of detection in various matrices ranged from 15 to 54 μM for C⁴D and from 200 to 635 μM for UV–Vis detection and were sufficiently low to clearly distinguish between endogenous and toxic levels of formate in healthy and methanol intoxicated individuals. In addition, PIMs proved that they may act as phase interfaces with excellent long-term stability since once prepared, they retained their extractions properties for, at least, two months of storage.     

毛细管区带电泳用于多种类兴奋剂的同时快速分离检测

建立了一种同时分离检测包括利尿剂、蛋白同化剂、β-阻断剂、麻醉剂、β2-激动剂、刺激剂等6类8种兴奋剂的毛细管区带电泳-紫外检测法。优化的色谱条件为：以50 mmol/L甲酸铵-氨水(pH 7.8)缓冲液为运行液,于3 kPa下进样10 s,分离电压为20 kV,检测波长为214 nm。在此条件下,8种兴奋剂在7 min内实现了快速的基线分离。在相应的浓度范围内,8种组分的浓度与峰高呈良好的线性关系,检出限达为0.2~0.7 μg/mL。该方法快速,分析成本低,无污染,非常适用于多种类兴奋剂的同时快速检测。     

Simultaneous determination of atenolol and amiloride in pharmaceutical preparations by capillary zone electrophoresis with capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detection

Capillary zone electrophoresis coupled with a capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detector (CE‐C⁴D) has been employed for the determination of atenolol and amiloride in pharmaceutical formulations. Acetic acid (150 mm ) was used as background electrolyte. The influence of several factors (detector excitation voltage and frequency, buffer concentration, applied voltage, capillary temperature and injection time) was studied. Non‐UV‐absorbing L‐valine was used as internal standard; the analytes were all separated in less than 7 min. The separation was carried out in normal polarity mode at 28°C, 25 kV and using hydrodynamic injection (25 s). The separation was effected in an uncoated fused‐silica capillary (75 μm, i.d. × 52 cm). The CE‐C⁴D method was validated with respect to linearity, limit of detection and quantification, accuracy, precision and selectivity. Calibration curves were linear over the range 5–250 μg/mL for the studied analytes. The relative standard deviations of intra‐ and inter‐day migration times and corrected peak areas were less than 6.0%. The method showed good precision and accuracy and was successfully applied to the simultaneous determination of atenolol and amiloride in different pharmaceutical tablet formulations. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

毛细管区带电泳技术快速分离检测爆炸残留物中的无机离子

利用间接紫外毛细管区带电泳方法完成了对爆炸残留物中7种无机离子(K+,NH+4,NO-2,NO-3,SO2-4,ClO-3,ClO-4)的分离检测。阳离子测定采用的缓冲体系为10 mmol/L吡啶（pH 4.5）-3 mmol/L冠醚,K+和NH+4在2.6 min内达到基线分离,检出限分别为0.25 mg/L和0.10 mg/L(S/N=3)。阴离子测定采用的缓冲体系为40 mmol/L硼酸-1.8 mmol/L重铬酸钾-2 mmol/L硼酸钠（pH 8.6）,氢氧化四甲铵为电渗流改性剂,5种阴离子在4.6 min内达到基线分离,检出限为0.10～1.85 mg/L。该方法已成功地应用于实际爆炸物样品种类的判定分析,取得了很好的结果。     

Developments in sample preparation and separation techniques for the determination of inorganic ions by ion chromatography and capillary electrophoresis.

A review is presented of sample preparation and separation techniques for the determination of inorganic ions by ion chromatography (IC) and capillary electrophoresis (CE). Emphasis has been placed on those sample treatment methods which are specific to inorganic analysis, and the developments in separation methods which are discussed are those which enhance the capabilities of IC and CE to handle complex sample matrices. Topics discussed include solid-phase extraction for sample clean-up and preconcentration, dialytic methods, combustion methods, matrix-elimination IC, electrostatic IC, electrically polarised ion-exchange resins, electromigration sample preparation in CE, chromatographic sample preparation for CE, use of high-ionic strength background electrolytes, buffering of background electrolytes in CE, use of capillary electrochromatography for inorganic determinations, and methods for the manipulation of separation selectivity in both IC and CE. Finally, some possible future trends are discussed.     

Field-amplified on-line sample stacking for determination of carnosine-related peptides by capillary electrophoresis

An on-line sample stacking method, namely field-amplified sample injection, has been developed for the separation and determination of carnosine, anserine, and homocarnosine by capillary electrophoresis. Using electrokinetic injection, about 130- to 160-fold improvement of sensitivity was achieved without loss of separation efficiency when compared to conventional sample injection. For conventional injection, the samples were dissolved in running buffer and then hydrodynamically injected for 10 s (3.45 kPa). Various parameters affecting separation and sample stacking were optimized. Under optimum conditions, linear responses were obtained over two orders of magnitude and the detection limits (defined as S/N = 3) of carnosine, anserine, and homocarnosine were 1.5 x 10(-8) to 1.6 x 10(-8) mol/L.     

Separation and determination of 2,4-D, dicamba and 2,4,5-T in tobacco by nonaqueous capillary electrophoresis

A practical method for residue analysis of 2,4-D, dicamba and 2,4,5-T in baked tobacco leaves has been developed using nonaqueous CE (NACE). The herbicide residues of 2,4-D, dicamba and 2,4,5-T in tobaccos were extracted by ultrasonication with ethyl acetate, followed by a cleanup procedure with gel permeation chromatography. The separation of 2,4-D, dicamba and 2,4,5-T by NACE was optimized based on orthogonal experiment design with four factors at three levels. The optimal NACE condition was established with the running buffer of 40.0 mmol/L ammonium acetate in 90% CH3CN (apparent pH 10.2), and the applied voltage of -25 kV over a capillary of 50 microm id x 46 cm (37.5 cm to the detector window), which gave a baseline separation of 2,4-D, dicamba and 2,4,5-T within 15 min. The LOD were ca. 0.4-0.6 microg/mL for the three herbicides, whereas the overall recovery ranged from 80.8 to 84.1%. The proposed method has been successfully applied to measure 300 real tobacco samples, and the residue profiles of the three herbicides in tobacco samples were obtained and evaluated.     

Study on the effects of electrolytes and solvents in the determination of quaternary ammonium ions by nonaqueous capillary electrophoresis with contactless conductivity detection

A study on the separation of lipophilic quaternary ammonium cations in NACE coupled with contactless conductivity detection (NACE‐C⁴D) is presented. The suitability of different salts dissolved in various organic solvents as running electrolytes in NACE‐C⁴D was investigated. A solvent mixture of methanol/acetonitrile at a ratio of 90%:10% v/v showed the best results. Deoxycholic acid sodium salt as BGE was found to provide exceptional high stability with low baseline noise that leads to highest S/N ratios for the target analytes among all BGEs tested. Under the optimum conditions, capillaries with different internal diameters were examined and an id of 50 μm was found to give best detection sensitivity. The proposed method was validated and showed good linearity in the range from 2.5 to 200 μM, low limits of detection (0.1–0.7 μM) and acceptable reproducibility of peak area (intraday RSD 0.1–0.7%, n = 3; interday RSD 5.9–9.4%, n = 3).     

Effects of the sample matrix on the separation of peptides by high performance capillary electrophoresis

The effects of the sample matrix on the separation of peptides by HPCE has been investigated. Under both acidic and alkaline conditions, use of 25–30 mM salts in the sample zone resulted in much better resolution than did 100 mM salts. Prefocusing effects and acceleration of elution were also observed. These results agree well with the theory developed by Everaerts. In this paper a practical guide for high sensitivity, high resolution separation of salt-containing peptide mixtures is proposed.     

Simultaneous determination of ten amphetamine designer drugs in human whole blood by capillary electrophoresis with diode array detection

In recent years, a number of new designer drugs have entered the illicit drug market. The methylenedioxyderivatives of amphetamine represent the largest group of designer drugs. This paper describes a method for screening for and simultaneously quantifying 10 2,5-methylenedioxy-derivatives of amphetamine and phenethylamine in human whole blood, using capillary electrophoresis (CE) with diode array detection (DAD). Using an aqueous pH 2.5 phosphate buffer, CE analysis gave peaks with good symmetry and reproducible migration times. Under these experimental conditions, the 10 amphetamines were resolved in 15 min and without interference from biological matrices (blood). Their identification by migration time was confirmed by their UV spectra recorded with a DAD (190-350 nm). The main advantages of the present method lie in its simplicity, clean and reliable extraction from human whole blood and simultaneous detection and quantification by CE-DAD. The applicability of the method was demonstrated by analysis of in vivo rat blood samples. The method was validated according to international guidelines.     

Simultaneous determination of ofloxacin and ornidazole in pharmaceutical preparations by capillary zone electrophoresis

A simple, rapid and validated capillary electrophoretic method has been developed for the separation and determination of ofloxacin and ornidazole in pharmaceutical formulations with detection at 230 nm. Optimal conditions for the quantitative separations were investigated. Analysis times shorter than 4 min were obtained using a background electrolyte solution consisting of 25 mmol/L phosphoric acid adjusted with 1 m Tris buffer to pH 8.5, with hydrodynamic injection of 5 s and 20 kV separation voltage. The validation criteria for accuracy, precision, linearity and limits of detection and quantitation were examined and discussed. An excellent linearity was obtained in concentration range 25–250 µg/mL. The detection limits for ofloxacin and ornidazole were 1.03 ± 0.11 and 1.80 ± 0.06 µg/mL, respectively. The proposed method has been applied for the analysis of ofloxacin and ornidazole both individually and in a combined dosage tablet formulation. The proposed validated method showed recoveries between 96.16 and 105.23% of the nominal contents. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A capillary electrophoresis method for the determination of soluble monosaccharides in Ginkgo biloba leaves

A method for the simultaneous determination of six monosaccharides by pre-column derivatization with 1-phenyl-3-methyl-5-pyrazolone and capillary electrophoresis was developed in this work. The derivatization (i.e., reaction temperature, capillary electrophoresis duration, and extraction number) and separation (i.e., pH and buffer concentration) conditions for capillary electrophoresis were optimized. Results showed that the limits of detection under optimal conditions were in the range of 0.036–0.35 mg/L with a mean correlation coefficient >0.99. The recoveries were in the range of 87.3–108.49%, and the relative standard deviations of intra- and inter-day variations were in the ranges of 2.2–3.8 and 3.2–5.0%, respectively. The method was successfully applied to the analysis of six free monosaccharides in three types of Ginkgo biloba leaves.     

非水毛细管电泳测定黄连饮片中5种生物碱

建立了一种非水毛细管电泳(NACE)同时测定黄连饮片生品与炮制品中小檗碱、巴马汀、药根碱、木兰碱和黄连碱含量的方法。分别考察了非水溶剂、缓冲液体系及其浓度和pH、运行电压、运行温度和检测波长等条件对实验结果的影响。在优化的实验条件下,选择非水毛细管电泳分离模式,以40 mmol/L乙酸钠-40 mmol/L乙酸铵的无水甲醇缓冲溶液(pH 5.8)为电泳介质,未涂渍标准熔融石英毛细管(64.5 cm×75 μm,有效长度56 cm)为分离通道,检测波长为254 nm,分离电压为25 kV,压力进样(5 kPa×6 s),柱温为20 ℃。结果显示,5种生物碱在20 min内可实现基线分离,加标回收率为98.37%～101.03%。该方法简单、准确,重现性较好,可用于黄连饮片内在质量的评价和控制。     

Strategy for the separation of concentrated samples by capillary electrophoresis

The use of concentrated samples is usually avoided during conventional separations since utilization of concentrated samples normally compromises the quality of separation. However, in case of the detection of low‐abundance components, highly concentrated samples are necessary, which leads to an extremely high concentration for high‐abundant components. This will make the separation difficult due to the serious longitudinal dispersion. Here, we developed a method to separate high concentration of components based on the modified capillary electrophoresis. The mechanism involves concentrated sample stretched into a wider zone in the higher electric field strength; the sample zone is fractionated into thin sections via a cutting effect; these thin sections are then separated. Based on this mechanism, we examined to separate an overloaded mixture of N ,N ′‐diphenylguanidine and N ,N ′‐di(o‐tolyl)guanidine. Baseline separation was achieved due to much small longitudinal dispersion. The theoretical plate numbers of peaks were around 3.5 × 10⁵ m⁻¹. The practicality of the new approach is demonstrated in the separation of a model protein mixture, containing lysozyme, bovine serum albumin, and ribonuclease A.