Liposomes as carriers in electrokinetic capillary chromatography

Liposomes are small membrane-enclosed vesicles composed of either natural or synthetic lipids. Their size can be adjusted on a wide scale and they can be made with well-defined compositions. While liposomes have been extensively used as model biomembranes they have also gained a considerable degree of attention as carriers for drugs as well as for genetic material. The physical properties of liposomes are critically dependent on their chemical composition. In this study liposomes were applied as pseudostationary phases in electrokinetic capillary chromatography. Various negatively charged liposomes, consisting of mixtures of zwitterionic and anionic lipids, were investigated. Major emphasis was put on clarifying the effects of the total lipid concentration, the lipid molar ratio, the lipid head group, and the buffer on the capillary electrophoretic separation of neutral analytes. In addition, the influence of the physical state of the membrane, ie., gel vs. fluid, on the separation was investigated. Corticosteroids were applied as model analytes.