Capillary electrophoresis of nonprotein and protein amino acids without derivatization

Separation of intact proteins by capillary electrophoresis

This work introduces novel and universal workflows for the analysis of intact proteins by capillary electrophoresis and presents guidelines for the targeted selection of appropriate background electrolytes (BGEs) by consideration of the target proteins' isoelectric point (pI). The suitability of neutral dimethyl polysiloxane (PDMS) capillaries with dynamic coatings of cationic cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) or anionic sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), and bare fused silica (BFS) capillaries were systematically evaluated for the analysis of histidine and seven model proteins in six BGEs with pH values between 3.0 and 9.6. Multiple capillary and BGE combinations were suitable for the analysis of all proteins with molecular weights ranging from 13.7-150 kDa, and pIs between 4.7 and 9.6. The CTAB-PDMS capillary was best suited for low pH BGEs, while the SDS-PDMS and BFS capillary were superior for high pH BGEs. These combinations consistently resulted in sharp peak shapes and rapid migration times. pH values of BGEs closer to the proteins' pI produced poorer peak shapes and decreased effective mobilities due to suppressed ionisation. Plots of mobility vs. pH crossed at approximately the pI of the protein in most cases. The workflow was applied to the analysis of caseins and whey proteins in milk for the separation of the seven most abundant proteins, including the isoforms of A1 and A2 β-casein and β-lactoglobulin A and B.

Solid-phase extraction and large-volume sample stacking with an electroosmotic flow pump in capillary electrophoresis for determination of methotrexate and its metabolites in human plasma

This paper describes approaches for large-volume sample stacking (LVSS) with an EOF pumpin CE for the determination of methotrexate (MTX) and its metabolites in human plasma. After pretreatment of plasma through a SPE cartridge, a large sample volume was loaded by hydrodynamic injection (3 psi, 70 s) into the capillary filled with phosphate buffer (70 mM, pH 6.0) containing 0.01% polyethylene oxide. Following removal of a large plug of sample matrix from the capillary using polarity switching (-25 kV), the separation of anionic analytes was subsequently performed without changing polarity again, achieving an improvement of sensitivity of around a 100-fold. The method was applied to therapeutic drug monitoring of MTX in one acute lymphoblastic leukemia patient. This study is one of very few applications showing the feasibility of LVSS in analysis of biological samples by CE.

On-line sequential preconcentration of inorganic anions by anion-selective exhaustive injection and base-stacking in capillary zone electrophoresis

A sequential electrostacking method based on anion-selective exhaustive injection (ASEI) and base-stacking (BS) is presented for the preconcentration and determination of inorganic anions by capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) in this paper. Tetradecyltrimethylammonium bromide as an electroosmotic flow (EOF) modifier was added into the buffer to suppress EOF of the capillary. Firstly, a water plug was hydrodynamically injected into the capillary. During ASEI under negative high voltage, the sample anions migrated quickly towards the boundary between the water plug and buffer in the capillary. Then an alkaline zone was injected electrokinetically to concentrate the anions further. With the sequential electrostacking method, the preconcentration factor of (0.8-1.3) x 10(5) was obtained compared with the conventionally electrokinetic injection and the relative standard deviation of peak area was 3.3-5.3% (n = 5). The detection limits of ASEI-BS-CZE for six inorganic anions were 6-14 ng/L. The proposed method has been adopted to analyze six anions in cigarette samples successfully.

Capillary electrophoresis for monitoring dityrosine and 3-bromotyrosine synthesis

Protein oxidation affects the structure of many amino acids. Variants of tyrosine are increasingly important in medical and food sciences. The synthesis of standards is essential for monitoring the disease state of patients with various illnesses and the quality of a number of food products. A method for monitoring standard synthesis of dityrosine and 3-bromotyrsoine from tyrosine using capillary electrophoresis (CE) is presented. Optimum separation was achieved using an isoelectric buffer consisting of 100mM iminodiacetic acid (IDA)+75 mM lauryl sulfobetaine (SB 3-12)+0.02% hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) in a 27 cm x 75 microm capillary at 22 kV and 45 degrees C. Using these conditions the tyrosine adducts could be easily separated in less than 4 min. The resolution of the CE method was similar to HPLC separations, but analysis time was distinctly shorter.

A novel assay method for theanine synthetase activity by capillary electrophoresis

The determination of theanine has been performed by micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography (MECC) using 2,4-dinitrofluorobenzene (DNFB) as a derivative reagent. To achieve the separation, a fused-silica capillary column was used with a borax buffer at 0.03 mol/L pH 9.8 (containing Brij35 and isopropanol) at 17 degrees C with detection wave length at 360 nm. The factors affecting the efficiency of the sample separation were examined simultaneously. A 40-min reaction at 35 degrees C between l-glutamate and ethylamine (with Tris-HCl buffer, pH 7.5) was investigated using the theanine synthetase from budding tea seeds. A novel method for the analysis of theanine synthetase activity based on MECC was established. The method shows mean recovery ranged from 87.1 to 105.3% and linearity ranged from 0.2 to 5.0 mmol/L.

Large-volume stacking in capillary electrophoresis using pH hysteresis of the electroosmotic flow in a bare fused-silica capillary

For large-volume stacking with the electroosmotic flow pump (LVSEP) in capillary electrophoresis of anionic analytes it is required that the electroosmotic mobility (EOM) should be smaller than the magnitudes of the effective mobilities of the analytes. When a fused-silica capillary is treated with an acidic solution, the silanoate group on the silica surface is neutralized to silanol and the EOM is suppressed. Due to the slow deprotonation equilibrium of the silanol group at an intermediate pH, this reduced EOM can be retained during a number of electrophoresis runs. Using a bare fused-silica capillary preconditioned with 0.01 M HCl, successful LVSEP at pH 6.0 was achieved for weakly acidic compounds with two orders of magnitude enhancements in the concentration sensitivity. The repeatability in migration times of ten analytes stacked by LVSEP in a single day was excellent with the relative standard deviation (RSD) less than 1% (n = 6). The day-to-day repeatability was also excellent with RSD less than 3% (n = 3 x 6) when the capillary was preconditioned each day.

Automated large-volume sample stacking procedure to detect labeled peptides at picomolar concentration using capillary electrophoresis and laser-induced fluorescence detection

We have developed an automated large-volume sample stacking (LVSS) procedure to detect fluorescein isothiocyanate-labeled peptides in the picomolar range. The injection duration is 10 min at 50 mbar to fill 62% of the capillary volume to the detection cell. The calculated limit of detection (S/N=3), filling 1% of the capillary volume, is 74 pM for bradykinin and 45 pM for L-enkephalin with samples diluted in water and analyzed in a 50 mM borate buffer, pH 9.2. With the automated LVSS system, the limits of detection are 7 pM for bradykinin, 3 pM for L-enkephalin and 2 pM for substance P. LVSS is shown to be quantitative from 500 to 10 pM.

Open tubular capillary electrochromatography of underivatized amino acids using Rh(III) tetrakis(phenoxyphenyl)porphyrinate as wall modifier

The separation of 17 "common" underivatized amino acids was attempted by open tubular capillary electrochromatography (OT-CEC) in fused-silica capillaries coated with Rh(III) tetrakis(phenoxyphenyl)porphyrinate (Rh(III)TPP(m-OPh)4OAc) using sodium phosphate and Tris-phosphate buffers as background electrolytes (BGEs). The OT-CEC separation of amino acids was compared with that obtained by capillary zone electrophoresis in bare fused-silica capillaries using the same BGEs. The amino acids were not derivatized and the UV-absorption detection was set at 200 nm. Depending on the experimental conditions at least 15 amino acids were separated. The best separations were obtained in a Rh(III)TPP(m-OPh)4OAc-coated capillary in 50 mM Tris-100 mM phosphate buffer at pH 2.25. Separation of the critical triplet Val-Ile-Leu was always at least indicated being better at higher BGE concentrations. Regarding the sensitivity of the method, lower concentration limits of detection (LODs) in the coated capillary were obtained for Thr, Gly, Tyr, and Val; the other amino acids exhibited lower LODs in the uncoated capillary. The separation of acidic amino acids was not achieved.

Optimization of a free separation of 30 free amino acids and peptides by capillary zone electrophoresis with indirect absorbance detection: a potential for quantification in physiological fluids

This report describes a rapid, single-run procedure, based on the optimization of capillary electrophoresis (CE) and indirect absorbance detection capabilities, which was developed for the separation and quantification of 30 underivatized physiological amino acids and peptides, usually present in biological fluids. p-Aminosalicylic acid buffered with sodium carbonate at pH 10.2+/-0.1 was used as the running electrolyte. Electrophoresis, carried out in a capillary (87 cm x 75 microm) at 15 kV potential (normal polarity), separated the examined compounds within 30 min. Limits of detection ranged from 1.93 to 20.08 micromol/l (median 6.71 micromol/l). The method was linear within the 50-200 micromol/l concentration range (r ranged from 0.684 to 0.989, median r=0.934). Within run migration times precision was good (median C.V.=0.7%). Less favorable within run peak area precision (median C.V.=6.6%) was obtained. The analytical procedure presented was successfully tested for separation and quantification of amino acids in physiological fluids, such as plasma or supernatant of macrophage cultures. Sample preparations require only a protein precipitation and dilution step.

Identification and quantification of natural isoxazolinone compounds by capillary zone electrophoresis

A capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) method that is specific, simple, rapid and also cheap was developed to analyse some natural UV-absorbing isoxazolinone compounds with toxic potential present in legume seedlings. The six most common natural isoxazolinone compounds were separated within 10 min with 25 mM potassium phosphate (pH 7.5) containing 8% 1-propanol as running buffer. A 60 cm coated fused-silica capillary (52.6 cm effective length x 75 microm I.D.), with an electric field of 375 V/cm at 30 degrees C was used. The limit of detection ranged from 0.01 mM (3.0 microg/ml) to 0.03 mM (7.7 microg/ml). Linearity between peak areas and concentrations ranging from 0.05 mM to 1.75 mM were determined for each isoxazolinone. The correlation coefficient was 0.9954 or greater. Both relative migration time and peak area were reproducible. The RSD of relative migration time is between 0.44 and 1.94% and RSD of peak area is between 1.26 and 6.86%. The concentrations of isoxazolinones in Lathyrus odoratus and L. sativus seedlings obtained by CZE were in agreement with the previous results from HPLC.

Recent advances in amino acid analysis by capillary electrophoresis

Amino acids are studied extensively using capillary electrophoresis. In this review we will report the different researchs which have been done in the literature since 1998. We will describe the developments of, detection methods, separations of enantiomers, the new medical applications, and amino acids in food and plants.

Determination of free amino acids in infant food by capillary zone electrophoresis with mass spectrometric detection

A method for the quantitative determination of free amino acids in infant food samples using capillary electrophoresis (CE) with electrospray-mass spectrometric (ESI-MS) detection is presented. According to the zwitterionic nature of the analytes, two different modes of separation as well as detection were tested; highly acidic carrier electrolytes combined with MS detection in the positive ion mode proved to be the optimum solution. Sensitivity as well as linearity of the method were sufficient to allow the analysis of all solutes of interest in a single run. In this way, free amino acids could be analyzed in a variety of infant food preparations without any sample pretreatment or derivatization step.

Sample stacking of cationic and anionic analytes in capillary electrophoresis

The behavior of charged species along concentration boundaries in capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) that was first described in detail by Everaerts et al. in 1979 assured the possibility of concentrating charged solutes inside the capillary. The concentration effect is based on the sudden change in analyte electrophoretic velocity brought about by the difference in the magnitude of the electric field. Furthermore, this on-line method could be the needed solution to the problem of low concentration sensitivity in CZE. Sample stacking, which is now its well known name, has then found valuable use in applying CZE in many fields, especially after the in-depth studies performed in the early 90s by Chien and Burgi. This article reviews the theory and methodological developments of sample stacking developed for charged analytes in CZE and also in electrokinetic chromatography. A table conveying the reported applications especially in the biomedical and environmental fields is given. On top of this, other on-line concentration methods for charged species, namely, sample self-stacking, acetonitrile stacking, sweeping, cation selective exhaustive injection-sweeping, and use of a pH junction, are briefly discussed.