Insight into the stability of poly(diallydimethylammoniumchloride) and polybrene poly cationic coatings in capillary electrophoresis

Efficient separation of organic anions in beverages using aminosilane-functionalized capillary electrophoresis with contactless conductivity detection

BACKGROUND

Capillary electrophoresis (CE) has the advantage of rapid anion analysis, when employing a reverse electroosmotic flow (EOF). The conventional CE method utilizes dynamic coatings with surfactants like cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) in the run buffer to reverse the EOF. However, this method suffers from very slow equilibration leading to drifting effective migration times of the analyte anions, which adversely affects the identification and quantification of peaks. Permanent coating of the capillary surface may obviate this problem but has been relatively little explored. Thus, permanent capillary surface modification by the covalent binding of 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) was studied as an alternative.

RESULTS

This study investigates the effect of APTES concentration for surface functionalization on EOF mobility, separation efficiency, and reproducibility of anion separation. The performance data was complemented by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and contact angle (CA) measurements. The XPS measurements showed that the coverage with APTES was dependent on its concentration in the coating solution. The XPS measurements correlated well with the EOF values determined for the capillaries tested. A standard mixture of 21 anions could be baseline separated within 10 min in the capillaries with lower EOF, but not in the capillary with the highest EOF as the residence time of the analytes was too short in this case. Compared to conventional dynamic coating with CTAB, APTES-functionalized capillaries provide faster equilibration and long-term EOF stability. The application of APTES-functionalized capillaries in analyzing different beverages demonstrates the precision, reliability, and specificity in determining organic anions, providing valuable insights of their compositions.

SIGNIFICANCE

APTES coating on capillaries provides a facile approach to achieve a permanent reversal of the stable EOF to determine anions. The control of the coverage via the concentration of the reagent solution allows the tailoring of the EOF to different needs, a faster EOF for less complex samples where resolution is not challenging, while a lower EOF for higher complex samples where the focus is on separation efficiency. This enhancement in efficiency and sensitivity has been applied to analyzing organic acids in several beverages.

Investigating cationic and zwitterionic successive multiple ionic-polymer layer coatings for protein separation by capillary electrophoresis

Successive multiple ionic-polymer layers (SMILs) have long since proved their worth in capillary electrophoresis as they ensure stable electroosmotic flow (EOF) and relatively high separation efficiency. Recently, we demonstrated that plotting the plate height (H) against the solute migration velocity (u) enabled a reliable quantitative evaluation of the coating performances in terms of separation efficiency. In this work, various physicochemical and chemical parameters of the SMIL coating were studied and optimized in order to decrease the slope of the ascending part of the H vs u curve, which is known to be controlled by the homogeneity in charge of the coating surface and by the possible residual solute adsorption onto the coating surface. SMILs based on poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride) (PDADMAC) and poly(sodium styrene sulfonate) (PSS) were formed and the effect of each polyelectrolyte molar mass and of the number of polyelectrolyte layers (up to 21 layers) was studied. The use of polyethylene imine as an anchoring first layer was considered. More polyelectrolyte couples based on PDADMAC, polybrene, PSS, poly(vinyl sulfate), and poly(acrylic acid) were tested. Finally, zwitterionic polymers based on the poly(α-l-lysine) scaffold were synthesized and used as the last layer of SMILs, illustrating their ability to finetune the EOF, while maintaining good separation efficiency.

Modifying last layer in polyelectrolyte multilayer coatings for capillary electrophoresis of proteins

Protein adsorption on the inner wall of the fused silica capillary wall is an important concern for capillary electrophoresis (CE) analysis since it is mainly responsible for separation efficiency reduction. Successive Multiple Ionic-polymer Layers (SMIL) are used as capillary coatings to limit protein adsorption, but even low residual adsorption strongly impacts the separation efficiency, especially at high separation voltages. In this work, the influence of the chemical nature and the PEGylation of the polyelectrolyte deposited in the last layer of the SMIL coating was investigated on the separation performances of a mixture of four model intact proteins (myoglobin (Myo), trypsin inhibitor (TI), ribonuclease a (RNAse A) and lysozyme (Lyz)). Poly(allylamine hydrochloride) (PAH), polyethyleneimine (PEI), ε-poly(L-lysine) (εPLL) and α-poly(L-lysine) (αPLL) were compared before and after chemical modification with polyethyleneglycol (PEG) of different chain lengths. The experimental results obtained by performing electrophoretic separations at different separation voltages allowed determining the residual retention factor of the proteins onto the capillary wall via the determination of the plate height at different solute velocities and demonstrated a strong impact of the polycationic last layer on the electroosmotic mobility, the separation efficiency and the overall resolution. Properties of SMIL coatings were also characterized by quartz microbalance and atomic force microscopy, demonstrating a glassy structure of the films.

Polyelectrolyte Multilayers in Capillary Electrophoresis

Capillary electrophoresis (CE) has been proven to be a performant analytical method to analyze both small and macro molecules. Indeed, it is capable of separating compounds of the same nature according to differences in their charge to size ratios, particularly proteins, monoclonal antibodies and peptides. However, one of the major obstacles to reach high separation efficiency remains the adsorption of solutes on the capillary wall. Among the different coating approaches used to control and minimize solute adsorption, polyelectrolyte multilayers can be applied to CE as a versatile approach. These coatings are made up of alternating layers of polycations and polyanions, and may be used in acidic, neutral or basic conditions depending on the solutes to be analyzed. This Review provides an overview of Successive Multiple Ionic-polymer Layer (SMIL) coatings used in CE, looking at how different parameters induce variations on the electro-osmotic flow (EOF), separation efficiency and coating stability, as well as their promising applications in the biopharmaceutical field.

Surface molecular imprinting on polystyrene resin for selective adsorption of 4-hydroxybenzoic acid

Using chloromethylated polystyrene resin, N,N-diethylaminoethyl methacrylate, and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate as support, functional monomer and cross-linker, respectively, the molecularly imprinted resin (MIR) and non-imprinted resin (NIR) were fabricated by the combination of atom transfer radical polymerization and surface imprinting technique for the selective adsorption of 4-hydroxybenzoic acid (4-HB) from aqueous solutions. The prepared adsorbents were characterized by N₂ adsorption/desorption isotherms, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The adsorption processes of the 4-HB with MIR and NIR followed pseudo-second-order kinetics, and the adsorption isotherms were appreciably described by the Langmuir model. Furthermore, the adsorption efficiencies of MIR and NIR for different compounds in single and binary solutions proved that MIR exhibited high adsorption capacity and favorable selectivity toward 4-HB over other structurally related organic compounds (i.e., benzoic acid, 2-hydroxybenzoic acid, 3-hydroxybenzoic acid, phenol, and 2-hydroxynaphthalene). In addition, MIR could effectively remove 4-HB from a simulated effluent in a dynamic adsorption experiment. This study illustrates in-depth perspectives on the adsorption mechanisms of 4-HB onto MIR; interactions between the adsorbate and adsorbent were proposed based on the adsorption behaviours and instrumental analyses. The resulting MIR is a promising material for the interference-free adsorbent in the selective adsorption of 4-HB from mixed solutions.

Polyethylenimine-functionalized polyacrylonitrile anion exchange fiber as a novel adsorbent for rapid removal of nitrate from wastewater

The development of an adsorbent with high adsorption ability and favorable cyclic regeneration performance for the removal of nitrate residues from wastewater is a task of vital importance. To this end, polyacrylonitrile fiber (PANF) was modified with polyethyleneimine (PEI), and alkyl groups were then introduced around the active amine groups to prepare three polymer-based anion exchange fibers (PAN-PEI-3C, PAN-PEI-5C, and PAN-PEI-8C). The novel fibers were characterized using techniques such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The adsorption isotherms of the fibers were best fitted by the Langmuir model, and PAN-PEI-5C exhibited a higher adsorption amount of nitrate (31.32 mg/g) than the other adsorbents. The equilibrium was reached expeditiously (within 10 min), and both pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order models could well describe the adsorption kinetics. More attractively, the saturated PAN-PEI-5C could be eluted using a low-concentration (0.3 M) NaCl solution, without any sharp loss of adsorption amount for five consecutive cycles in the presence of dissolved organic matter (DOM). Furthermore, PAN-PEI-5C could effectively adsorb low-concentration nitrate from real secondary effluents in a fixed-bed column experiment. Our work provides a promising and low-cost material for the removal of nitrate residues in practical applications.

Simultaneous capillary electrophoresis of anions and cations in a single injection using an anion exchanger-modified capillary for determination of salivary ions in combination with statistical analyses

This paper describes the simultaneous capillary electrophoresis (CE) of anions and cations using an anion exchange-modified capillary, which was prepared by chemical coating with a cationic silylating reagent, and its application to saliva analysis. The CE method provides high-throughput (5 min for a single sample injection) analysis by generating a high-velocity electroosmotic flow at pH 3.0-3.5. The detection limits at a signal-to-noise ratio of 3 ranged from 1.2 to 18 μM for anions and 1.0 to 2.7 μM for cations. The relative standard deviations for the migration times and peak areas of analytes (n = 4) ranged from 0.05% to 0.40% and 0.94% to 4.7%, respectively. The CE system was used to analyze 11 common ions in saliva samples collected from long-distance runners and sedentary university students before and after running for a set distance or a set time. Interestingly, the SCN^- concentrations decreased in the saliva samples of all 14 athletes and 16 sedentary students after running. Furthermore, when the concentrations of the analyzed ions were compared with that of cortisol as a typical stress marker by multiple regression analysis, SCN^- and NO₃^- in saliva samples from the two subject groups strongly correlated with cortisol levels, as determined by an electrochemiluminescence immunoassay. This study improves our knowledge of both the analytical methodology for CE and statistical methods for identifying common ions that could be used as physical stress markers.

Synthesis and Application of a Cationic Polyamine as Yankee Dryer Coating Agent for the Tissue Paper-Making Process

Tissue paper is of high importance worldwide and, continuously, research is focused on improvements of the softening and durability properties of the paper which depend specifically on the production process. Polyamide-amine-epichlorohydrin (PAE) resins along with release agents are widely used to adhere the paper to the yankee dryer (creping cylinder) in paper manufacture. Nevertheless, these resins are highly cationic and they normally adhere in excess to the paper which negatively affects the creping process and the quality of the paper. For this reason, a low cationic polyamine-epichlorohydrin coating (Polycoat 38®) was synthesized from a diamine supplied by Disproquin S.A.S. and epichlorohydrin. The analysis of the synthesized polymer was carried out by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR). The molecular weight of the polymer was obtained by gel permeation chromatography (GPC), physical-chemical properties such as kinematic viscosity, percentage of solids, density, charge density were measured and compared with a commercial PAE resin (Dispro620®) Thermal stability of the Polycoat 38® and glass transition temperature in presence of a release agent (Disprosol 17®) were also evaluated by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), respectively. Finally, a peel adhesion test and an absorption durability assessment were carried out together with the evaluation of the creeping efficiency of the paper by caliber and tensile measurements in a tissue (towel paper) production plant, demonstrating a superior performance in the paper creping process as compared to some commercially available products.

Novel approach for the synthesis of a neutral and covalently bound capillary coating for capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry made from highly polar and pH-persistent N-acryloylamido ethoxyethanol

Statically adsorbed or covalently coupled capillary coatings are of crucial importance in capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry for the separation of peptides and proteins. So far, published coating strategies and commercially available coated capillaries have a limited pH-stability so that the analysis at strongly acidic pH is limited, or harsh rinsing procedures for biological sample analysis cannot be applied. We here present a capillary coating based on Si-C linkages to N-acryloylamido ethoxyethanol (AAEE) with a new synthetic strategy including LiAlH₄ surface reaction. We optimized the coating method with emphasis on stability and reproducibility applying harsh rinsing procedures (strong acid, strong base and organic solvent), using the electroosmotic mobility and separation efficiency of tryptic peptides as performance measure. Complete synthesis is performed in less than 2 days for up to 8 capillaries in parallel of more than 16 m total length. Intra- and inter-batch reproducibility were determined regarding electroosmotic mobility, separation efficiency and migration time precision in CE-MS separations of tryptically digested bovine serum albumin. Coating stability towards rinsing with strong acid (1 mol/L HCl), organic solvent (acetonitrile) and strong base (1 mol/L NaOH) was investigated. Outstanding performance was found for single capillaries. However, inter-capillary reproducibility is discussed critically. The new coating was successfully applied for reproducible CE-MS separation of large proteins in diluted serum, medium-sized peptides and small and highly charged polyamines in fish egg extracts using a very acidic background electrolyte containing 0.75 mol/L acetic acid and 0.25 mol/L formic acid (pH 2.2).

Effect of Functional Group Density of Anion Exchange Resins on Removal of p-Toluene Sulfonic Acid from Aqueous Solution

Adsorption using anion exchange resins is an efficient method for the removal of aromatic sulfonic acids (ASAs) from industrial wastewater. In this study, a series of weak-base anion exchangers (SD1–SD5) were synthesized to investigate the effect of functional group density of resins on the adsorption of ASAs from wastewater containing competitive inorganic anions. p-Toluene sulfonic acid (PTSA) was selected as a target pollutant, and Na2SO4 was chosen as the competitive inorganic salt because of its widespread existence in industrial wastewater. Adsorption performances of these resins were evaluated and compared in terms of selectivity, kinetics, isotherms, regeneration, and dynamic adsorption behavior. Importantly, the PTSA uptake increased with the raising content of functional groups on resins in the absence of Na2SO4; however, in the presence of a high level of Na2SO4 (for example, ≥1%), a decrease in the functional group density could improve the adsorption capacity of resins for PTSA. Moreover, desorption and fixed bed column experiments were conducted in all resins, thereby confirming the effect of functional group density of resins on the PTSA adsorption in actual application. In brief, this research will provide a better understanding for the design and preparation of anion exchangers for the effective removal of ASA from wastewater.

Fast determination of lactic, succinic, malic, tartaric, shikimic, and citric acids in red Vranec wines by CZE-ESI-QTOF-MS

A fast and simple method with CZE coupled to ESI/QTOF-MS was optimized and validated for quantitative determination of organic acids (lactic acid, succinic acid, malic acid, tartaric acid, shikimic acid, and citric acid) in red wines. The BGE was ammonium acetate and the separation of the analytes was performed in a polybrene-coated capillary in the presence of EOF. The sample preparation included dilution and filtration of the wine. The method showed satisfactory performance characteristics: good linearity for each organic acid, with correlation coefficients ranging from r²  = 0.9902 (shikimic acid) to r²  = 0.9990 (tartaric acid). The limit of quantification was between 0.0034 mM (for shikimic acid) and 0.107 mM (for citric acid), and the recovery data fell between 95.8% (malic acid) and 102.7% (lactic acid); the total run time was less than 4 min. The RSD values for the interday repeatability and intraday reproducibility were between 3.44 and 9.50%, and between 1.75 and 8.29%, respectively. Seventeen Macedonian red Vranec wines were studied demonstrating a wide variation in the organic acids' concentration, which should be most probably due to the variation of the climate conditions in the vine areas.

Modulation of electroosmotic flow in capillary electrophoresis by plant polyphenol-inspired gallic acid/polyethyleneimine coatings: Analysis of small molecules

Plant polyphenols can form functional coatings on various materials through self-polymerization. In this paper, a series of modified capillary columns, which possess diversity of charge characteristics for modulating electroosmotic flow (EOF), were prepared by one-step co-deposition of gallic acid (GA), a plant-derived polyphenol monomer, and branched polyethyleneimine (PEI). The physicochemical properties of the prepared columns were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), UV-Vis spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The magnitude and direction of EOF of GA/PEI co-deposited columns were modulated by changing a series of coating parameters, such as post-incubation of FeCl₃, co-deposition time, and deposited amounts of GA and PEI with different relative molecular mass (PEI-600, PEI-1800, PEI-10000, and PEI-70000). Furthermore, the separation efficiencies of the prepared GA/PEI co-deposited columns were evaluated by separations of small molecules, including organic acids, polar nucleotides, phenols, nucleic acid bases and nucleosides. Results indicated that modulating of EOF plays an important role in enhancing the separation performance and reversing the elution order of the analytes. Finally, the developed method was successfully applied to quantitative analysis of acidic compounds in four real samples. The recoveries were in the range of 73.5%-85.8% for citric acid, benzoic acid, sorbic acid, salicylic acid and ascorbic acid in beverage and fruit samples, 101.6%-104.9% for cinnamic acid, vanillic acid, and ferulic acid in Angelica sinensis sample, while 84.6%-97.8% for guanosine-5'-monophosphate, uridine-5'-monophosphate, cytosine-5'- monophosphate and adenosine-5'-monophosphate in Cordyceps samples. These results indicated that the co-deposition of plant polyphenol-inspired GA/PEI coatings can provide new opportunities for EOF modulation of capillary electrophoresis.

Anisotropic electrokinetic transport in channels modified with patterned polymer brushes

Molecular dynamics simulations have been used to predict the transport dynamics of fluids through nanochannels with polymer patterning surfaces. The effects of different parameters, such as separation between polymer stripes, solvent quality, and direction and strength of the electric field, were explored in terms of electroosmotic flow transport characteristics, conformational dynamics of the polymer brush and ion distribution. Anisotropic electrokinetic transport becomes significant due to the surface patterning of polymers when the direction of the electric field is changed. At the separation between adjacent polymer stripes comparable to the chain length, local strong flow close to the bare surfaces weakens dramatically under the electric field along the stripe direction. However, when the electric field is switched to the direction perpendicular to the stripes, the flow is enhanced considerably. The coupling of the polymer solvent quality further richens and complicates the transport behaviors. We explain the physical mechanism of the electroosmotic flow in complex polymer patterning channels by analyzing the interrelationship among various properties.

High pH instability of quaternary ammonium surfactant coatings in capillary electrophoresis

The two-tailed cationic surfactant dioctadecyldimethyl ammonium bromide (DODAB) produces semi-permanent coatings that yield strongly reversed electroosmotic flow (EOF), for example -0.31 ± 0.01 cm² kV^-1 s^-1 at pH 3.5. Moreover, these coatings are easy to prepare, regenerable, cost effective, and yield high efficiency (520 000-900 000 plates per m) separations of cationic proteins over many runs under acidic (pH 3.5) conditions. Given the quaternary amine functionality of DODAB, we were surprised to observe that DODAB coatings become unstable at pH > 7. At pH 7.2, the EOF of a DODAB coated capillary drifted from reversed to cathodic over only 5 runs, and protein separations became severely compromised. By pH 12, no EOF reversal was observed. Electrophoretic and mass spectrometric studies demonstrate that the coating decomposition involves a surface conversion of the quaternary amine in DODAB to a variety of products, although the exact mechanism remains elusive. Regardless, the results herein demonstrate that semi-permanent coatings based on cationic two-tailed surfactants such as DODAB are limited to separations using acidic buffers.

Recent trends in capillary electrophoresis for complex samples analysis: A review

CE has been a continuously evolving analytical methodology since its first introduction in the 1980s of the last century. The development of new CE separation procedures, the coupling of these systems to more sensitive and versatile detection systems, and the advances in miniaturization technology have allowed the application of CE to the resolution of new and complex analytical problems, overcoming the traditional disadvantages associated with this method. In the present work, different recent trends in CE and their application to the determination of high complexity samples (as biological fluids, individual cells, etc.) will be reviewed: capillary modification by different types of coatings, microfluidic CE, and online microextraction CE. The main advantages and disadvantages of the different proposed approaches will be discussed with examples of most recent applications.

Separation of dynorphin peptides by capillary electrochromatography using a polydiallyldimethylammonium chloride gold nanoparticle-modified capillary

Dynorphin A (Dyn A) is an endogenous opioid peptide found in blood and central nervous system tissue at very low concentrations. Elevated levels of Dyn A due to different disease states, for example neurodegenerative disease, have been linked to toxic nonopioid activity. CE is a powerful technique that can achieve high-efficiency separations of charged analytes. However, CE has limited use for the analysis of basic proteins and peptides, due to their adsorption onto the inner surface of the fused silica at pHs below their pI. This adsorption can lead to a loss of efficiency, irreproducibility of migration times, and peak tailing. To obviate this problem, a polydiallyldimethylammonium chloride-stabilized gold nanoparticle-coated capillary was investigated for the separation of dynorphin metabolites. The positively charged gold nanoparticles (GNP) minimized unwanted adsorption of the positively charged peptides onto the surface of the fused-silica capillary. Separation efficiency and resolution for opioid peptides Dyn A (1-6), Dyn A (1-7), Dyn A (1-8), Dyn A (1-11), and leu-enkephalin on the GNP-coated capillary column were evaluated under different experimental parameters. The best separation of Dyn A (1-17) and its fragments was achieved using a BGE that consists of 40 mM sodium acetate buffer (pH 5) containing 5% GNP, a field strength of -306 V/cm, and a 75 μm id capillary. The developed method was applied to the separation of tryptic peptide fragments of dynorphin A (1-17).

Mapping molecular adhesion sites inside SMIL coated capillaries using atomic force microscopy recognition imaging

Capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) is a powerful analytical technique for fast and efficient separation of different analytes ranging from small inorganic ions to large proteins. However electrophoretic resolution significantly depends on the coating of the inner capillary surface. High technical efforts like Successive Multiple Ionic Polymer Layer (SMIL) generation have been taken to develop stable coatings with switchable surface charges fulfilling the requirements needed for optimal separation. Although the performance can be easily proven in normalized test runs, characterization of the coating itself remains challenging. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) allows for topographical investigation of biological and analytical relevant surfaces with nanometer resolution and yields information about the surface roughness and homogeneity. Upgrading the scanning tip to a molecular biosensor by adhesive molecules (like partly inverted charged molecules) allows for performing topography and recognition imaging (TREC). As a result, simultaneously acquired sample topography and adhesion maps can be recorded. We optimized this technique for electrophoresis capillaries and investigated the charge distribution of differently composed and treated SMIL coatings. By using the positively charged protein avidin as a single molecule sensor, we compared these SMIL coatings with respect to negative charges, resulting in adhesion maps with nanometer resolution. The capability of TREC as a functional investigation technique at the nanoscale was successfully demonstrated.

Ionic liquids affect the adsorption of liposomes onto cationic polyelectrolyte coated silica evidenced by quartz crystal microbalance

The worldwide use of ionic liquids (ILs) is steadily increasing, and even though they are often referred to as "green solvents" they have been reported to be toxic, especially toward aquatic organisms. In this work, we thoroughly study two phosphonium ILs; octyltributylphosphonium chloride ([P8444]Cl) and tributyl(tetradecyl)phosphonium chloride ([P14444]Cl). Firstly, the critical micelle concentrations (CMCs) of the ILs were determined with fluorescence spectroscopy and the optical pendant drop method in order to gain an understanding of the aggregation behavior of the ILs. Secondly, a biomimicking system of negatively charged unilamellar liposomes was used in order to study the effect of the ILs on biomembranes. Changes in the mechanical properties of adsorbed liposomes were determined by quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) measurements with silica coated quartz crystal sensors featuring a polycation layer. The results confirmed that both ILs were able to incorporate and alter the biomembrane structure. The membrane disrupting effect was emphasized with an increasing concentration and alkyl chain length of the ILs. In the extreme case, the phospholipid membrane integrity was completely compromised.