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Li L, Ren DD, Zhang PY, Song YP, Li TX, Gao MH, Xu JN, Zhou L, Zeng ZC, Pu Q. Pushing the Limits of Capacitively Coupled Contactless Conductivity Detection for Capillary Electrophoresis. Anal Chem 2024; 96:10356-10364. [PMID: 38863415 DOI: 10.1021/acs.analchem.4c01367] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/13/2024]
Abstract
Capillary electrophoresis with capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detection (CE-C4D) has proven to be an efficient technique for the separation and detection of charged inorganic, organic, and biochemical analytes. It offers several advantages, including cost-effectiveness, nanoliter injection volume, short analysis time, good separation efficiency, suitability for miniaturization, and portability. However, the routine determination of common inorganic cations (NH4+, K+, Na+, Ca2+, Mg2+, and Li+) and inorganic anions (F-, Cl-, Br-, NO2-, NO3-, PO43-, and SO42-) in water quality monitoring typically exhibits limits of detection of about 0.3-1 μM without preconcentration. This sensitivity often proves insufficient for the applications of CE-C4D in trace analysis situations. Here, we explore methods to push the detection limits of CE-C4D through a comprehensive consideration of signal and noise sources. In particular, we (i) studied the model of C4D and its guiding roles in C4D and CE-C4D, (ii) optimized the bandwidth and noise performance of the current-to-voltage (I-V) converter, and (iii) reduced the noise level due to the strong background signal of the background electrolyte by adaptive differential detection. We characterized the system with Li+; the 3-fold signal-to-noise (S/N) detection limit for Li+ was determined at 20 nM, with a linear range spanning from 60 nM to 1.6 mM. Moreover, the optimized CE-C4D method was applied to the analysis of common mixed inorganic cations (K+, Na+, Ca2+, Mg2+, and Li+), anions (F-, Cl-, Br-, NO2-, NO3-, PO43-, and SO42-), toxic halides (BrO3-) and heavy metal ions (Pb2+, Cd2+, Cr3+, Co2+, Ni2+, Zn2+, and Cu2+) at trace concentrations of 200 nM. All electropherograms showed good S/N ratios, thus proving its applicability and accuracy. Our results have shown that the developed CE-C4D method is feasible for trace ion analysis in water quality control.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lin Li
- State Key Laboratory of Applied Organic Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
| | - Dou-Dou Ren
- State Key Laboratory of Applied Organic Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
| | - Peng-Yu Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Applied Organic Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
| | - Yun-Peng Song
- State Key Laboratory of Applied Organic Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
| | - Tang-Xiu Li
- State Key Laboratory of Applied Organic Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
| | - Ming-Hui Gao
- State Key Laboratory of Applied Organic Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
| | - Jia-Nan Xu
- State Key Laboratory of Applied Organic Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
| | - Lei Zhou
- State Key Laboratory of Applied Organic Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
| | - Zhi-Cong Zeng
- State Key Laboratory of Applied Organic Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
| | - Qiaosheng Pu
- State Key Laboratory of Applied Organic Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
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Li L, Song YP, Ren DD, Li TX, Gao MH, Zhou L, Zeng ZC, Pu QA. A compact and high-performance setup of capillary electrophoresis with capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detection (CE-C 4D). Analyst 2024; 149:3034-3040. [PMID: 38624147 DOI: 10.1039/d4an00354c] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/17/2024]
Abstract
Capillary electrophoresis with capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detection (CE-C4D) has the advantages of high throughput (simultaneous detection of multiple ions), high separation efficiency (higher than 105 theoretical plates) and rapid analysis capability (less than 5 min for common inorganic ions). A compact CE-C4D system is ideal for water quality control and on-site analysis. It is suitable not only for common cations (e.g. Na+, K+, Li+, NH4+, Ca2+, etc.) and anions (e.g. Cl-, SO42-, BrO3-, etc.) but also for some ions (e.g. lanthanide ions, Pb2+, Cd2+, etc.) that require complex derivatization procedures to be detected by ion chromatography (IC). However, an obvious limitation of the CE-C4D method is that its sensitivity (e.g. 0.3-1 μM for common inorganic ions) is often insufficient for trace analysis (e.g. 1 ppb or 20 nM level for common inorganic ions) without preconcentration. For this technology to become a powerful and routine analytical technique, the system should be made compact while maintaining trace analysis sensitivity. In this study, we developed an all-in-one version of the CE-C4D instrument with custom-made modular components to make it a convenient, compact and high-performance system. The system was designed using direct digital synthesis (DDS) technology to generate programmable sinusoidal waveforms with any frequency for excitation, a kilovolt high-voltage power supply for capillary electrophoresis separation, and an "effective" differential C4D cell with a low-noise circuitry for high-sensitivity detection. We characterized the system with different concentrations of Cs+, and even a low concentration of 20 nM was detectable without preconcentration. Moreover, the optimized CE-C4D setup was applied to analyse mixed ions at a trace concentration of 200 nM with excellent signal-to-noise ratios. In typical applications, the limits of detection based on the 3σ criterion (without baseline filtering) were 9, 10, 24, 5, and 12 nM for K+, Cs+, Li+, Ca2+, and Mg2+, respectively, and about 7, 6, 6 and 6 nM for Br-, ClO4-, BrO3- and SO42-, respectively. Finally, the setup was also applied for the analysis of all 14 lanthanide ions and rare-earth minerals, and it showed an improvement in sensitivity by more than 25 times.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lin Li
- State Key Laboratory of Applied Organic Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Lanzhou University, China.
| | - Yun-Peng Song
- State Key Laboratory of Applied Organic Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Lanzhou University, China.
| | - Dou-Dou Ren
- State Key Laboratory of Applied Organic Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Lanzhou University, China.
| | - Tang-Xiu Li
- State Key Laboratory of Applied Organic Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Lanzhou University, China.
| | - Ming-Hui Gao
- State Key Laboratory of Applied Organic Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Lanzhou University, China.
| | - Lei Zhou
- State Key Laboratory of Applied Organic Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Lanzhou University, China.
| | - Zhi-Cong Zeng
- State Key Laboratory of Applied Organic Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Lanzhou University, China.
| | - Qi-Aosheng Pu
- State Key Laboratory of Applied Organic Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Lanzhou University, China.
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Chen X, Du J, Kanwal S, Yang ZJ, Zheng LL, Wang J, Wen J, Zhang DW. A low-cost and portable fluorometer based on an optical pick-up unit for chlorophyll-a detection. Talanta 2024; 269:125447. [PMID: 38008018 DOI: 10.1016/j.talanta.2023.125447] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2023] [Revised: 11/17/2023] [Accepted: 11/19/2023] [Indexed: 11/28/2023]
Abstract
Chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) fluorescence detection is an important technique for monitoring water quality. In this work, we proposed an approach that employs the mass-produced low-cost optical pick-up unit (OPU) extracted from the high-definition digital versatile disc (HD-DVD) drive as the key optical component for our chlorophyll-a fluorometer. The built-in blue-violet 405 nm laser diode of the OPU acts as the excitation light to perform laser-induced fluorescence (LIF). The laser driver and a series of intrinsic lenses within the OPU, such as an objective lens with a numerical aperture (NA) of 0.65 and a collimating lens, help reduce the size, cost, and system complexity of the fluorometer. By integrating off-the-shelf electronic components, miniaturized optical setups, and 3D-printed assemblies, we have developed a low-cost, easy-to-make, standalone, and portable fluorometer. Finally, we validated the performance of the device for chlorophyll-a fluorescence detection under laboratory and on-site conditions, which demonstrated its great potential in water monitoring applications. The limit of detection (LOD) for chlorophyll-a is 0.35 μg/L, the size of the device is 151 × 100 × 80 mm3, and the total cost of the proposed fluorometer is as low as 137.5 USD. © 2023 Elsevier Science. All rights reserved.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xu Chen
- School of Optical-Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai, 200093, China
| | - Jing Du
- Huitong School, Shenzhen, 518052, China
| | - Saima Kanwal
- School of Optical-Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai, 200093, China
| | - Zhi-Jin Yang
- School of Optical-Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai, 200093, China
| | - Lu-Lu Zheng
- School of Optical-Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai, 200093, China
| | - Jian Wang
- School of Optical-Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai, 200093, China
| | - Jing Wen
- School of Optical-Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai, 200093, China.
| | - Da-Wei Zhang
- School of Optical-Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai, 200093, China
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Itterheimová P, Kubáň P. An open source 3D printed autosampler for capillary electrophoresis. Anal Chim Acta 2023; 1279:341832. [PMID: 37827625 DOI: 10.1016/j.aca.2023.341832] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/09/2023] [Revised: 09/15/2023] [Accepted: 09/17/2023] [Indexed: 10/14/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND In-house built capillary electrophoresis (CE) systems represent a significant share of laboratory instrumentation. In most of these instruments, sample injection is effected manually with low to moderate precision and requires skilled operators. Although few automated samplers have been previously developed, typically only one sample at a time can be injected. If a series of samples is to be analyzed, manual intervention is required. In the present work, we developed and constructed a fully automated, open source, CE autosampler, able to handle up to 14 different samples that can be used as a modular component of any in-house built CE instrument. RESULTS An inexpensive, 3D printed, open source, autosampler for CE was developed. The autosampler consists of two parts: an injection unit with carousel containing sample and electrolyte vials and a flushing unit, containing a miniature pressure/vacuum pump. The autosampler is operated by an Arduino Mega microcontroller and an Arduino code written in the laboratory. The injection sequence is entered through a keypad and LCD display by the user. The instrument can operate autonomously for extended periods of time. It was used for fully automated analysis and/or calibration of up to 14 samples with excellent injection repeatability reaching less than 2.7% RSD for peak areas. The sampler performance was tested with two independently built CE instruments, a CE system with contactless conductivity detection (C4D) and a CE system with laser induced fluorescence (LIF) detector. SIGNIFICANCE AND NOVELTY A novel, 3D printed, Arduino-based autosampler for CE was developed. The autosampler allows autonomous hydrodynamic injection of up to 14 different samples with fully programmable injection sequence, including capillary flushing and high voltage and data acquisition control. It provides the missing instrumental sampling setup for laboratory made CE instruments. It can be simply constructed based on the open-source blueprints in any laboratory and be a useful and time-saving add-on to any modular CE instrument.
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Affiliation(s)
- Petra Itterheimová
- Department of Bioanalytical Instrumentation, Institute of Analytical Chemistry, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Veveří 97, 602 00, Brno, Czech Republic; CEITEC Masaryk University, Kamenice 5, 62500, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Petr Kubáň
- Department of Bioanalytical Instrumentation, Institute of Analytical Chemistry, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Veveří 97, 602 00, Brno, Czech Republic.
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Van Schepdael A. Capillary electrophoresis as a simple and low-cost analytical tool for use in money-constrained situations. Trends Analyt Chem 2023. [DOI: 10.1016/j.trac.2023.116992] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/18/2023]
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Novel developments in capillary electrophoresis miniaturization, sampling, detection and portability: An overview of the last decade. Trends Analyt Chem 2023. [DOI: 10.1016/j.trac.2023.116941] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/19/2023]
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Tůma P. Monitoring of biologically active substances in clinical samples by capillary and microchip electrophoresis with contactless conductivity detection: A review. Anal Chim Acta 2022; 1225:340161. [DOI: 10.1016/j.aca.2022.340161] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/04/2022] [Revised: 07/08/2022] [Accepted: 07/08/2022] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
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Ehrmann G, Blachowicz T, Homburg SV, Ehrmann A. Measuring Biosignals with Single Circuit Boards. Bioengineering (Basel) 2022; 9:bioengineering9020084. [PMID: 35200437 PMCID: PMC8869486 DOI: 10.3390/bioengineering9020084] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/07/2022] [Accepted: 02/14/2022] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
To measure biosignals constantly, using textile-integrated or even textile-based electrodes and miniaturized electronics, is ideal to provide maximum comfort for patients or athletes during monitoring. While in former times, this was usually solved by integrating specialized electronics into garments, either connected to a handheld computer or including a wireless data transfer option, nowadays increasingly smaller single circuit boards are available, e.g., single-board computers such as Raspberry Pi or microcontrollers such as Arduino, in various shapes and dimensions. This review gives an overview of studies found in the recent scientific literature, reporting measurements of biosignals such as ECG, EMG, sweat and other health-related parameters by single circuit boards, showing new possibilities offered by Arduino, Raspberry Pi etc. in the mobile long-term acquisition of biosignals. The review concentrates on the electronics, not on textile electrodes about which several review papers are available.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guido Ehrmann
- Virtual Institute of Applied Research on Advanced Materials (VIARAM)
- Correspondence:
| | - Tomasz Blachowicz
- Institute of Physics—Center for Science and Education, Silesian University of Technology, 44-100 Gliwice, Poland;
| | - Sarah Vanessa Homburg
- Faculty of Engineering and Mathematics, Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences, 33619 Bielefeld, Germany; (S.V.H.); (A.E.)
| | - Andrea Ehrmann
- Faculty of Engineering and Mathematics, Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences, 33619 Bielefeld, Germany; (S.V.H.); (A.E.)
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Rozenski J, Asfaw AA, Van Schepdael A. Overview of in-capillary enzymatic reactions using capillary electrophoresis. Electrophoresis 2021; 43:57-73. [PMID: 34510496 DOI: 10.1002/elps.202100161] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2021] [Revised: 08/23/2021] [Accepted: 09/07/2021] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
This review summarizes the research that has recently been performed on in-capillary enzymatic reactions integrated with capillary electrophoresis. The manuscript is subdivided in homogeneous and heterogeneous approaches. The main homogeneous techniques are Electrophoretically Mediated Microanalysis, At-inlet and Transverse Diffusion of Laminar Flow Profiles. The main heterogeneous ones are Immobilized MicroEnzyme Reactors with enzymes grafted on either non-magnetic or magnetic particles. The overview covers the period from 2018 to early 2021. The applications range from drug discovery over natural products to food, beverage and pesticide analysis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jef Rozenski
- Department ofPharmaceutical and Pharmacological Sciences, Medicinal Chemistry, Rega Institute, KU Leuven-University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Adissu Alemayehu Asfaw
- Department of Pharmaceutical and Pharmacological Sciences, Pharmaceutical Analysis, KU Leuven- University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.,Department of Pharmaceutical Analysis and Quality Assurance, College of Health Sciences, School of Pharmacy, Mekelle University, Mekelle, Ethiopia
| | - Ann Van Schepdael
- Department of Pharmaceutical and Pharmacological Sciences, Pharmaceutical Analysis, KU Leuven- University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
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