Miniaturization of separation techniques using planar chip technology

Miniaturization of separation columns implies equally reduced vol- umes of injectors, detectors, and the connecting channels. Planar chip technology provides a powerful means for the fabrication of micron-sized structures such as channels. This is demonstrated by two examples. An optical absorbance detector chip exhibits the expected behavior of a 1 mm optical path length cell despite its volume of 1 nL. A capillary electrophoresis device allows integrated injections of 100 pL samples, efficiencies of 70,000 to 160,000 theoretical plates in 10 to 20 seconds, and external laser-induced fluorescence detection at any capillary length of choice between 5 and 50 mm.     

Determination of 3-amino-1,2,4-triazole (amitrole) in environmental waters by capillary electrophoresis

3-Amino-1,2,4-triazole (amitrole) is a widely used pesticide, with many difficulties to be analyzed at the regulatory level in drinking water, because its high solubility in water. This paper describes a simple and fast method for the simultaneous determination of amitrole and atrazin-2-hydroxy, principal degradation product of s-triazines, by capillary zone electrophoresis. Separation and determination of these herbicides in water samples was performed in 0.02 mol l⁻¹ phosphate buffer at pH 3.2. The method allows determination of the amitrole and atrazin-2-hydroxy in water samples in concentration lower than 100 μg l⁻¹. The detection limits using a previous preconcentration step of amitrole in Alberche River (Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain) and drinking water spiked samples was of 4 μg l⁻¹.     

Separation and Determination of Clenbuterol,Cimaterol and Salbutamol by Capillary Electrophoresis with Amperometric Detection

Capillary electrophoresis with amperometric detection was applied to determine some β₂‐agonists, such as clenbuterol, cimaterol and salbutamol in this paper. The working electrode used was a 0.3 mm diameter carbon disk electrode. In this work, the pH 6.0–6.4 borax‐potassium dihydrogen phosphate was used as running buffer (150 mmol/L), 10 kV as the separation voltage and 1.05 V (vs. Ag/AgCl, 3 mol/L KCl) as the detection potential. Under the optimum conditions, the analytes were baseline separated within 16 min. Linear range for cimaterol, clenbuterol and salbutamol was 1.0–2000, 2.0–2000 and 1.0–2000 ng/mL, respectively. The detection limits (define as 3σ/k) were 0.5, 1.0 and 0.4 ng/mL for cimaterol, clenbuterol and salbutamol, respectively. The developed method has been applied to determine these three analytes in feed and urine by standard addition. The mean recoveries for these three analytes ranged from 89.0% to 102.0%.     

Sample-stacking techniques in non-aqueous capillary electrophoresis

In sample-stacking techniques, the detection limit cannot be improved by simply increasing the length of the sample solution, because the individual electrophoretic parameters must be optimized. In an attempt to increase the amount of sample injected, as well as to focus them onto a small zone, two novel methods are proposed. One of these employs an "ultra-high conductivity zone", which was inserted between the sample zone and background solution to build an unequal conductivity gradient. The other employs a "low temperature bath". A portion of the capillary (near the junction between the sample solution and the background solution) was immersed in a low temperature bath, which served as a "pseudo-high-conductivity zone" due to the fact that conductivity would increases when the temperature is decreased. As a result, a large volume of sample injection can be achieved. Using 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine as a model compound, the detection limit was determined to be 1.6 x 10(-6) M (S/N = 3) by means of normal non-aqueous capillary electrophoresis (NACE). This could be improved to 3.0 x 10(-8) M, 4.8 x 10(-9) M and 5.0 x 10(-9) M, respectively, when the normal stacking, ultra-high conductivity zone NACE-stacking and the low-temperature zone NACE-stacking methods were applied.     

Two-dimensional separation system of coupling capillary liquid chromatography to capillary electrophoresis for analysis of Escherichia coli metabolites

A two-dimensional (2-D) separation system of coupling chromatography to electrophoresis was developed for profiling Escherichia coli metabolites. Capillary liquid chromatography (LC) with a monolithic silica-octadecyl silica column (500 x 0.2 mm ID) was used as the first dimension, from which the effluent fractions were further analyzed by capillary electrophoresis (CE) acting as the second dimension. Field-enhanced stacking was selectively employed as a concentration strategy to interface the two dimensions, which proved to be beneficial for the detection of metabolites. An artificial sample containing 118 standards, some of which lack chromophores or have weak UV absorbance, was used to optimize the 2-D separation system. Under the optimum conditions, 63 components in the artificial sample having absorbance at 254 nm could be well resolved and detected. The utility of the system was demonstrated by comprehensive analysis of E. coli metabolites. Comparing with the previous 2-D separation system we published in Anal. Chem. 2004, 76, 1419-1428, using a longer monolithic column in the first dimension improved the separation efficiency and offered the possibility of increasing the injection volume without compromising the separation efficiency. In the second dimension, field-enhanced stacking was used to improve the concentration sensitivity of the metabolites, and more metabolites in E. coli cell extract were detected and identified using the developed 2-D separation system. In addition, preliminary investigation for future CE-mass spectrometry coupling was also made in the study by using volatile buffers in the capillary LC and CE techniques.     

Improvement of the electrophoretic protein profiles of Leguminosae gums extracts using gamanase and application to the evaluation of carob-guar mixtures

A quantitative assay for guar gum in carob gum, based on the extraction of proteins in acetonitrile-water (7:3), separation by capillary electrophoresis and multiple linear regression (MLR) using the areas of nine selected peaks as predictors, was improved by performing the extraction in the presence of gamanase. In the absence of the enzyme, peak migration times and areas depended on the guar content, which complicated peak identification and evaluation. Manual correction of the migration times by comparison with standard electropherograms obtained with pure carob and carob-guar mixtures was required; however, when the proteins were extracted under sonication at 60 °C for 30 min in the presence of gamanase, the migration times and peak areas did not vary with the composition of the carob-guar mixtures, and its reproducibility improved largely. These effects were attributed to the reduction of the viscosity of the extracts and the removal of the galactomannose interactions with the proteins and the capillary walls. Peak identification and evaluation were easily and directly performed on these electropherograms without further processing. An MLR model constructed with 36 carob-guar mixtures containing up to 20% guar, and by measuring the areas of 12 selected peaks and using eight of them as predictors, yielded a detection limit of 2.8% guar (α=β=0.05 criterion). A model of similar quality was obtained by partial least-squares (PLS) regression.     

An ultrasensitive method for the determination of thiouracil and phenylthiouracil using capillary zone electrophoresis and laser-induced fluorescence detection

This paper reports the development of a method based on capillary electrophoresis with laser-induced fluorescence detection for the simultaneous determination of thiouracil (TU) and phenylthiouracil (PhTU) with high sensitivity (nanomolar range, i.e., attomoles detected). After derivatization with 5-iodoacetamidofluorescein, the analytes were separated by capillary zone electrophoresis using 20 mM phosphate buffer (pH 10.0) and quantified by fluorescence detection. The linearity range, precision, recovery, and detection limits were determined, and the method was shown to be applicable for the determination of TU and PhTU in spiked feed samples and urine.     

Age-dependent variations of cell response to oxidative stress: proteomic approach to protein expression and phosphorylation

We investigated the protein profiles of variously aged rat astrocytes in response to oxidative stress. After H2O2-exposure of cells at 100 microM for 30 min, the relative intensity of ten protein spots changed on two-dimensional (2-D) gels compared with control gels after silver staining. Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight-mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS) analysis after in-gel digestion revealed that six of these spots corresponded to three kinds of proteins, each of which was composed of a protein and its modified form with a different isoelectric point (pI). These three proteins were identified as peroxiredoxins (PRDXs) II and III, and calpactin I light chain (p11). H2O2-exposure increased the intensity of the spot with lower pI and simultaneously decreased that of the spot with higher pI for both PRDXs II and III. In addition, the expression of annexin VII, S-adenosyl-L-homocysteine hydrolase, elongation factor II fragment (EF-II), and adenosine deaminase was increased by H2O2-exposure in astrocytes from variously aged rats. Using the Pro-Q Diamond staining, heat shock protein 60 kDa (Hsp 60) and alpha-tubulin were observed to be phosphorylated upon H2O2-exposure. While phosphorylation of alpha-tubulin was correlated positively with age, the changes in abundance of ten protein spots as described above were independent of age. These results suggest that aging does not suppress the responses aimed at limiting injury and promoting repair brought about by severe oxidative stress, and might affect cell dynamics including the formation of microtubules.     

Artificial neural networks for quantification in unresolved capillary electrophoresis peaks

The application of the combination of experimental design (ED) and artificial neural networks (ANNs) for the quantification of overlapped peaks in capillary zone electrophoresis is described. When the total separation cannot be achieved by separation techniques, the use of ED-ANN can be a suitable approach. The unstability of EOF causes peak shift that has to be corrected in order to apply ED-ANN methods. In this work, normalization procedure of electropherograms with consequent application of ANNs for quantification purpose was developed. Both, spectra and electropherograms can be used as multivariate data. In general, both kinds of data were found to be suitable for unresolved peaks quantification by ED-ANN approach.     

一种新型毛细管电泳—电感耦合等离子体光谱法接口装置

毛细管电泳是一种高效、简便的分离方法，已被用于生物、环境及临床等试样的分离及分析[1]．检测技术在毛细管电泳中占有重要的地位，目前，在柱紫外可见及荧光检测是两种广为接受的检测方法，但其检测灵敏度仅为10－5～10－6mol／L[2]．电感耦合等离子体光谱（ICP－AES／MS）是一种灵敏的元素选择性的分析方法，已被广泛地用于各种试样中元素分析．近年来，该方法作为色谱及毛细管电泳的检测器，被用于元素的形态分析[3]．在毛细管电泳（CE）与ICP光谱连用技术中，挑战性的工作是设计一种能把CE与ICP相连的接口．目前已有几种接口…