Tom van de Goor

Optimization of the high-frequency contactless conductivity detector for capillary electrophoresis.

Two constructions of the high‐frequency contactless conductivity detector that are fitted to the specific demands of capillary zone electrophoresis are described. The axial arrangement of the electrodes of the conductivity cell with two cylindrical electrodes placed around the outer wall of the capillary column is used. We propose an equivalent electrical model of the axial contactless conductivity cell, which explains the features of its behavior including overshooting phenomena. We give the computer numerical solution of the model enabling simulation of real experimental runs. The role of many parameters can be evaluated in this way, such as the dimension of the separation channel, dimension of the electrodes, length of the gap between electrodes, influence of the shielding, etc. The conception of model allows its use for the optimization of the construction of the conductivity cell, either in the cylindrical format or in the microchip format. The ability of the high‐frequency contactless conductivity detector is demonstrated on separation of inorganic ions.

Extension of the application range of UV-absorbing organic solvents in capillary electrophoresis by the use of a contactless conductivity detector

A contactless conductivity detection (CCD) system is used for capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) with non-aqueous solvents of the buffering background electrolyte, which exhibit strong UV absorbance below 230 nm. It is found that the CCD characteristics with such solvents (propylene carbonate, N,N-dimethylformamide and N.N-dimethylacetamide as examples) is the same as with aqueous solutions: the same signal and noise is obtained for a given electric conductance of the background electrolyte, independent of the kind of the solvent. Therefore CCD enables the extension of the application range to solvents with restricted use for common UV detection in CZE due to their unfavourable or even unfitting optical properties. The applicability of CCD is demonstrated by CZE of aliphatic ammonium compounds in these solvents.

Electrophoretic mobilities of large organic ions in nonaqueous solvents: determination by capillary electrophoresis in propylene carbonate, N,N-dimethylformamide, N,N,-dimethylacetamide, acetonitrile and methanol.

The mobilities of the monocharged permanent tertraphenylphosphonium cation and tetraphenylborate anion are determined by capillary zone electrophoresis in different organic solvents as a function of the ionic strength, I, of the background electrolyte. The nonaqueous solvents are propylene carbonate (PC), N,N‐dimethylformamide (DMF), N,N,‐dimethylacetamide (DMA), acetonitrile (MeCN) and methanol (MeOH). The ionic strength is between 5 and 50 mmol/L. The mobility as a function of I is in good agreement with the theory of Debye, Hückel and Onsager (DHO), extended by the ion size parameter as introduced by Falkenhagen and Pitts. The values of the limiting DHO slopes of the mobility vs. I curves (the slopes express the influence of the solvent on the reduction of the mobility with increase of I) decrease in the order MeCN > MeOH > DMF > DMA > PC. Absolute mobilities (obtained by extrapolation to I = 0) of a particular ion differ by a factor of about 7 between the solvents. However, constancy within 10% is observed for their Walden products (the absolute mobility multiplied with the solvent’s macroviscosity). The role of dielectric friction on the mobility of the present monocharged, large analyte ions is discussed according to the theory of Hubbard and Onsager. Based on the radii of the ions, the static permittivity of the solvent and its permittivity at infinite frequency, and the relaxation time of polarization, an equal contribution of dielectric and hydrodynamic friction is predicted in MeOH as solvent. Experimental data are in contrast to this prediction, indicating the overestimation of dielectric friction, and the dominance of hydrodynamic friction on the migration of the analyte ions in all solvents under consideration.

Separation of haloacetic acids in water by capillary zone electrophoresis with direct UV detection and contactless conductivity detection

The separation of haloacetic acids (HAAs) in water by capillary zone electrophoresis with direct UV and contactless conductivity detection was investigated using phosphate, citrate, and borate buffers, and the experimental data were compared to simulation data predicted by a computational program known as PeakMaster. Good agreement between the experimental data and simulation data predicted by PeakMaster was found. Using the phosphate buffer or the citrate buffer and electrokinetic injection it was possible to quantitate HAAs at 0.1 ppm levels in water.

Instrument contributions to resolution and sensitivity in ultra high performance liquid chromatography using small bore columns: comparison of diode array and triple quadrupole mass spectrometry detection.

UHPLC with DAD-UV detection or in combination with mass spectrometry (MS) has proven to be a robust and widely applicable platform for high sensitivity analyses of many types of chemical compounds. The majority of users employ narrow bore columns with 2.1mm internal diameter (ID) typically exhibiting very high efficiencies (>200,000 plates/m). This ultimately sets stringent demands upon the chromatographic system as the separation efficiency can be compromised by external contributions to dispersion caused by connection capillaries, auto-sampler and/or the detection device. Sample limited applications often use reduced column diameters down to capillary- or even nano-column format. Capillary (ID≤0.5mm) or small-bore columns (ID≤1mm) can be a good compromise between system robustness and enhanced sensitivity. Yet in this case, extra-column dispersion gains additional importance due to reduced peak volumes. To design an optimized system configuration for specific column dimensions and applications it is crucial to understand the dispersion contributions of individual extra-column components. This was subject to many studies done within our group and by others. Here, we employed a fully optimized UHPLC/UV system to investigate the contribution to peak dispersion obtained from columns ranging from capillary to narrow bore (0.3, 0.5, 1, 2.1mm) using a set of small molecules that were analyzed in gradient mode. Further UV detection was replaced by a triple quadrupole (QQQ) MS in order to evaluate its contribution to band broadening. In this context the impact of column-ID upon MS sensitivity when interfaced with an Agilent Jet Stream source was investigated. Data obtained from our test suite of compounds shows mostly mass-sensitive behavior of this advanced electrospray technology.

Dispersion in capillary electrophoresis with external flow control methods

Abstract Recently, methods for controlling the bulk flow of the buffer which are independent of the electrophoretic migration have been demonstrated in capillary electrophoresis (CE) systems. These methods include controlling the electroosmosis by radially directed electric fields, and controlling the bulk flow by siphoning. This paper investigates basic dispersion mechanisms at work by examining the dispersion of dimethyl sulfoxide under various external control methods. It is found that the electroosmotic flow control methods exhibit the same dispersive behavior as the conventional CE system. In particular, the results for pH 7 buffers obey the theoretical expression for the plate height in all configurations. However, in all configurations, pH 2.7 buffers do not follow the theory, and counter to intuition, additional pressure can improve the plate height at pH 2.7. Taking all these methods together, one can develop a technique to appropriately adjust the electrophoretic and bulk flow to optimize resolution.

Performance of HPLC/MS microchips in isocratic and gradient elution modes

We analyzed the chromatographic performance of particle-packed, all-polyimide high-performance liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (HPLC/MS) microchips in terms of their hydraulic permeabilities and separation efficiency under isocratic and gradient elution conditions. The separation channels of the chips (with ca 50 microm x 75 microm trapezoidal cross-section and a length of 43 mm) were slurry packed with either 3.5 or 5 microm spherical porous C18-silica particles. A custom-built holder enveloped the chip during packing to prevent channel deformation and delamination from high pressures. It is shown that the packing conditions significantly impact the packing density of the HPLC/MS chips, which determines their performance in both, isocratic and gradient elution modes. Even with steep solvent gradients, peak shape and chromatographic resolution for the densely packed HPLC/MS chips are much improved. Our data show that the analytical power of the HPLC/MS chip is limited by the quality of the chromatographic separation.

HPLC-Chip/MS Technology in Proteomic Profiling

HPLC-chip/MS is a novel nanoflow analytical technology conducted on a microfabricated chip that allows for highly efficient HPLC separation and superior sensitive MS detection of complex proteomic mixtures. This is possible through on-chip preconcentration and separation with fluidic connection made automatically in a leak-tight fashion. Minimum precolumn and postcolumn peak dispersion and uncompromised ease of use result in compounds eluting in bands of only a few nanoliters. The chip is fabricated out of bio-inert polyimide-containing channels and integrated chip structures, such as an electrospray emitter, columns, and frits manufactured by laser ablation technology. Meanwhile, a variety of HPLC-chips differing in design and stationary phase are commercially available, which provide a comprehensive solution for applications in proteomics, glycomics, biomarker, and pharmaceutical discovery. The HPLC-chip can also be easily integrated into a multidimensional separation workflow where different orthogonal separation techniques are combined to solve a highly complex separation problems. In this chapter, we describe in detail the methodological chip usage and functionality and its application in the elucidation of the protein profile of human nucleoli.

Determination of electroosmotic flow mobility with a pressure-mediated dual-ion technique for capillary electrophoresis with conductivity detection using organic solvents

A method is described for the indirect determination of the mobility of the electroosmotic flow (EOF), which can be carried out within a few minutes even for very low mobilities. It is independent of the direction of the EOF. It is based on the comparison of the measured mobilities of two oppositely charged reference ions (tetraphenylphosphonium and tetraphenylborate) with given mobilities in different organic solvents (methanol, acetonitrile, N,N-dimethylformamide, N,N-dimethylacetamide, propylene carbonate) at ionic strengths between 5 and 50 mM. The method is based on the sequential movement of the reference ions in a three-step process: first by a laminar flow to a certain position in the separation capillary, followed by electromigration due to application of voltage, and pressurised migration towards the detector. In this way the total mobilities of the reference ions can be determined from their residence times, and the difference to their known actual mobilities gives the mobility of the EOF. The method avoids misinterpretations caused by system- and eigen-peaks, which often bias the results especially when a conductivity detector is used. The method is suitable for all solvents, and is an advantage especially for organic and mixed aqueous-organic background electrolytes with high UV absorbance.

Analysis of dimeric cyanine–nucleic acid dyes by capillary zone electrophoresis in N,N-dimethylacetamide as non-aqueous organic solvent

A method based on capillary zone electrophoresis is presented for the determination of the purity of commercial dimeric cyanine dyes (TOTO, YOYO, BOBO, all -1 and -3 species, LOLO-1, POPO-1) that are common as fluorescent probes for nucleic acid staining. These dyes are tetracharged cations, and have a strong tendency to interact with negatively charged centres, where they are rapidly adsorbed, especially from aqueous solutions. Thus anionic sites at the capillary wall must be avoided, and aqueous buffers are not suitable. The method introduced here avoids both complications, using non-aqueous N,N-dimethylacetamide as solvent, and suppressing the dissociation of silanol groups at the capillary surface due to selection of acidic separation conditions (20 mmol/l perchloric acid as background electrolyte). The present method enables the determination of the purity of all 10 dyes in less than 15 min. The selectivity of the method allows separation of at least five main and differentiating a number of unresolved minor contaminants as demonstrated in detail for TOTO-3 as an example. Quantitation (with 100% normalisation of the peak areas) of nine lots of this dye results in a purity between 33 and 87%.