Use of a partial filling technique and reverse migrating micelles in the study of N-methylcarbamate pesticides by micellar electrokinetic chromatography-electrospray ionization mass spectrometry

MEKC as a powerful growing analytical technique

This review summarizes the principle and the developments in MEKC in terms of separation power, sensitivity, and detection approaches more than 25 years after its appearance. Newly used surfactants are mentioned. Classical and new sample concentration techniques in MEKC are described. The different detection approaches in MEKC with advantages, limitations, and future prospects are also discussed. This review highlights the wider application of MEKC in different analytical fields. Various recent selected applications of this technique in different analytical fields are reported.

Recent food safety and food quality applications of CE-MS

The first on-line coupling of CE with MS detection more than 20 years ago provided a very powerful technique with a wide variety of applications, among which food analysis is of special interest, especially that dealing with food safety and food quality applications, the major topics of public interest nowadays. With this review article, we would like to show the most recent applications of CE-MS in both fields by recompiling and commenting articles published between January 2004 and October 2008. Although both applications are difficult to separate from each other, we have included in this work two main sections dealing with each specific field. Future trends will also be discussed.

Practical considerations for the analysis of ionic and neutral organic molecules with capillary electrophoresis/mass spectrometry

This chapter presents the technique of capillary electrophoresis coupled to mass spectrometry (CE/MS). The introductory section is targeted mainly at CE/MS beginners and notes briefly the theoretical background of electrospray ionization (ESI), the most commonly used ionization mode in CE/MS. The specifics of CE/MS are described--also in comparison with more classic methods like LC/MS. Important caveats to be taken into consideration for successful CE/MS operation are noted in the interest of avoiding pitfalls. CE/MS is illustrated with three representative examples, which might serve as starting points for more in-detail experiments: (1) partial-filling micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC) of neutral bacterial signaling molecules (N-acylhomoserine lactones) extracted from culture supernatants, (2) capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) of their anionic degradation products, and finally (3) CZE separation of cationic hydroxy-s-triazines.

On-line concentration of environmental pollutant samples by using capillary electrophoresis

This chapter reviews the theory and methodological developments of on-line concentration techniques for the determination of environmental pollutant samples, such as organic and inorganic compounds in capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) and also in micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC). Topics covered include a variety of on-line preconcentration strategies, which are now generally referred to as sample stacking and sweeping techniques. For each technique, surveyed methods are tabulated in order to assist in method selection. Innovative applications of sample stacking and sweeping to advanced environmental research are also emphasized. In addition, other comparative on-line concentration methods for environmental samples, namely, isotachophoretic stacking and anion and cation selective exhaustive injection-sweeping are briefly discussed.

Coupling of non-aqueous electrokinetic chromatography using cationic cyclodextrins with electrospray ionization mass spectrometry

Non-aqueous electrokinetic chromatography (NAEKC) using cationic cyclodextrins (CDs) was coupled to electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS). A methanolic background electrolyte (BGE) was used which contained the hydrochloride salts of the single-isomer derivative cyclodextrins 6-monodeoxy-6-mono(2-hydroxy)propylamino-beta-cyclodextrin (IPA-beta-CD) or 6-monodeoxy-6-mono(3-hydroxy)propylamino-beta-cyclodextrin (PA-beta-CD). Applying a reversed capillary electrophoresis (CE) polarity (-30 kV), efficient separation of negatively charged compounds was achieved with plate numbers of up to 190,000. PA-beta-CD appeared to be the most suitable for the separation of various acidic drugs while also providing a high chiral selectivity. Analyte detection was achieved by ESI-MS in the negative-ion mode using a sheath-liquid interface. In order to prevent current drops caused by the cathodic electroosmotic flow, a pressure of 15 mbar was applied on the inlet vial during NAEKC/MS analysis. The effect of the cationic CDs on the MS signal intensities of acidic test drugs was thoroughly studied. When a voltage is applied across the CE capillary, the overall mobility of the cationic CDs is towards the inlet vial so that no CD molecules enter the ion source. The chloride counter ions of the CDs, which migrated towards the capillary outlet, were found to cause ionization suppression, although significant analyte signals could still be detected. Depending on the CD concentration in the BGE, limits of detection for acidic drugs were in the 50-400 ng/mL range in full-scan mode.

On-line preconcentration and chiral separation of propiconazole by cyclodextrin-modified micellar electrokinetic chromatography

A method for the chiral separation of propiconazole using cyclodextrin-modified micellar electrokinetic chromatography (CD-MEKC) with hydroxypropyl-gamma-cyclodextrin (HP-gamma-CD) as chiral selector is reported. The use of a mixture of 30 mM HP-gamma-CD, 50mM SDS, methanol-acetonitrile 10%:5% (v/v) in 25 mM phosphate buffer solution was able to separate two enantiomeric pairs of propiconazole. Stacking- and sweeping-CD-MEKC under neutral pH (pH 7) and under acidic condition (pH 3.0) were used as two on-line preconcentration methods to increase detection sensitivity of propiconazole. Good repeatabilities in the migration time, peak area and peak height were obtained in terms of relative standard deviation (RSD). A sensitivity enhancement factor of 100-fold was achieved using sweeping-CD-MEKC at acidic pH. This is the first report on the separation of two pairs of propiconazole enantiomers and all the enantiomers of fenbuconazole and tebuconazole using sweeping-CD-MEKC. The limit of detection (S/N=3) for the three triazole fungicides ranged from 0.09 to 0.1 microg/mL, which is well below the maximum residue limits (MRL) set by Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC). Combination of solid-phase extraction (SPE) pretreatment and sweeping-CD-MEKC procedure was applied to the determination of selected triazole fungicides in grapes samples spiked at concentration 10-40 times lower than the MRL established by the CAC. The average recoveries of the selected fungicides in spiked grapes samples were good, ranging from 73% to 109% with RSD of 9-12% (n=3).

Ammonium perfluorooctanoate as a volatile surfactant for the analysis ofN-methylcarbamates by MEKC-ESI-MS

Ammonium perfluorooctanoate (APFOA) was investigated as an MS-friendly surfactant for the analysis of a mixture of ten N-methylcarbamates with MEKC-ESI-MS. Because of the relatively low boiling point of perfluorooctanoic acid ( approximately 190 degrees C), APFOA can be introduced into a mass spectrometer without the adverse effects of less volatile surfactants such as SDS. With a BGE consisting of 50 mM APFOA/isopropanol (IPA) 98:2 and with 30 kV applied, a very fast separation ( approximately 6 min) was possible with only one pair of analytes comigrating. Using an experimental design with four factors (voltage, nebulizer pressure, concentration of APFOA, and concentration of IPA) we were able to resolve all analytes in just over 11 min. Sheath liquid composition and flow rate, drying gas temperature and flow rate, and fragmentor voltage were then optimized for maximum signal intensity and S/N. It was found that the faster method gave better S/N because of narrower peak widths, and detection limits in SIM mode were between 0.01 (aldicarb) and 0.08 mg/L (methomyl). Calibration curves were prepared with standards of 0.50, 1.00, and 2.00 mg/L for the analysis of samples obtained after SPE of tap water spiked with the ten N-methylcarbamates at a level of 10 microg/L. All analytes showed very good recoveries (>86%), except for the most polar analyte aldicarb sulfone (recovery of 73%), testifying for the potential use of APFOA for this kind of analyses.

Rapid separation and determination of carbamate insecticides using isocratic elution pressurized capillary electrochromatography

An isocratic elution pressurized CEC (pCEC) system was used to separate and determine ten carbamate insecticides. It was found that introduction of the electrical field, supplementary pressure, and SDS in the proposed method greatly improved the speed, column efficiency, selectivity, and repeatability for separation and determination of carbamates. On a capillary column of 75 microm ID packed with 3 microm octadecyl silica, baseline separation and detection of ten analytes was performed by using a mobile phase consisting of 30% v/v ACN and 70% v/v of 5 mmol/L ammonium acetate (pH 6.5) containing 1 mmol/L SDS and 0.01% triethylamine (TEA). Under the optimum conditions ten carbamate insecticides could be completely separated within 20 min. For the real vegetable samples, an SPE procedure for the cleanup of matrices was carried out prior to pCEC analysis. The detection limits of 0.05-1.6 mg/kg for ten carbamates and mean recoveries of 51.3-109.2% for eight kinds of vegetable samples at different concentrations of carbamates with RSD less than 11.4% were obtained, respectively. The proposed method has been proved to be effective in the rapid analysis of carbamate residues in vegetables.

Atmospheric Pressure Photoionization for Enhanced Compatibility in On-Line Micellar Electrokinetic Chromatography−Mass Spectrometry

Atmospheric pressure photoionization (APPI) is presented as a novel means for the combination of micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC) and mass spectrometry (MS). The on-line coupling is achieved using an adapted sheath flow interface installed on an orthogonal APPI source. Acetone or toluene is added as dopant to the sheath liquid to enhance analyte photoionization. It is demonstrated that with APPI signal suppression and interferences by the surfactant sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and nonvolatile buffers can be circumvented. This implies that MEKC conditions can be selected independently from MS detection. Moreover, it is shown that both polar and apolar compounds can be photoionized, thereby also facilitating the analysis of compounds that are not amenable to electrospray ionization. Consequently, the MEKC-APPI-MS system can provide effective separation and detection of compounds of diverse character in one run using background electrolytes containing up to 50 mM SDS. Concentration limits of detection derived from extracted-ion traces (full scan mode) of test compounds were approximately 1 microg/mL, and the detection sensitivity remained unaffected during 1 day of continuous use. Overall, the system features are very favorable for applications such as drug impurity profiling as is illustrated by the analysis of mebeverine and related compounds (both charged and neutral) at the 0.25% (w/w) level.

Miniaturization in sample treatment for environmental analysis

The increasing demand for faster, more cost-effective and environmentally friendly analytical methods is a major incentive to improve the classical procedures used for sample treatment in environmental analysis. In most classical procedures, the use of rapid and powerful instrumental techniques for the final separation and detection of the analytes contrasts with the time-consuming and usually manual methods used for sample preparation, which slows down the total analytical process. The efforts made in this field in the past ten years have led to the adaptation of existing methods and the development of new techniques to save time and chemicals, and improve overall performance. One route has been to develop at-line or on-line and, frequently, automated systems. In these approaches, miniaturization has been a key factor in designing integrated analytical systems to provide higher sample throughput and/or unattended operation. Selected examples of novel developments in the field of miniaturized sample preparation for environmental analysis are used to evaluate the merits of the various techniques on the basis of published data on real-life analyses of trace-level organic pollutants. Perspectives and trends are briefly discussed.

Pesticide analysis by capillary electrophoresis

In this work, a critical and updated revision of the current situation of the analysis of pesticides by Capillary Electrophoresis (CE) is presented. The review has been written in two main sections. The first one presents a thorough revision of the various offline and on-line sample preconcentration procedures that have been used in conjunction with CE to analyze these compounds. The second part reviews the various detection strategies (i.e., UV, LIF, MS, and electrochemical) and CE modes that have been applied to the analysis of pesticides. Future trends that can be expected from this hot research area are also discussed.

Determination of phytohormones of environmental impact by capillary zone electrophoresis

A test mixture of five phytohormones [naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA), naphthoxyacetic acid (NOA), indoleacetic acid (IAA), indolebutyric acid (IBA), and indolepropionic acid (IPA)] was investigated. These compounds were cleanly separated with good resolution by capillary zone electrophoresis with a UV diode array detector using 20 mM sodium phosphate buffer (pH 7.25). The lowest detection limit was obtained for IPA (0.45 mg L(-)(1) or 0.005 mg kg(-)(1)) and the highest for NAA (1.04 mg L(-)(1) or 0.014 mg kg(-)(1)). The method has been applied for tomato samples fortified with the five phytohormones using a liquid-liquid extraction procedure, obtaining recovery percentages ranging from 91 to 109.0%.

On-line micellar electrokinetic chromatography-mass spectrometry: feasibility of direct introduction of non-volatile buffer and surfactant into the electrospray interface

An on-line method for the coupling of micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC) and mass spectrometry (MS) is presented which allows conventional MEKC conditions to be employed without further modification. The MEKC system is coupled directly to electrospray ionization (ESI) MS using a triaxial interface. A systematic study of the influence of the surfactant concentration, the nature and concentration of buffer salts and presence of organic modifier on the interface performance indicated the feasibility of the MEKC-MS approach. Effective interfacing of MEKC was achieved with both single quadrupole and ion-trap MS instruments. Using a background electrolyte containing 20 mM sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and 10 mM sodium phosphate buffer, it is demonstrated that full MEKC runs of test mixtures of mebeverine and related compounds can be monitored by ESI-MS with satisfactory sensitivity. Sub-microg/ml levels of the analytes can still be detected in full scan mode, while detection limits are in the 10-50 ng/ml range when selected ion monitoring is applied. It is shown that such sensitivity would allow full-scan MS detection of 0.1% (w/w) levels of potential impurities in mebeverine. With the ion-trap instrument successful MEKC-MS/MS experiments were carried out providing information-rich MS spectra of the related compounds. Repeated MEKC-MS analyses proved that in the course of 1 day the migration time of mebeverine remained fairly constant while the MS-signal intensity only gradually decreased to approximately 65% of its original value. Once-a-day cleaning of the first part of the ion source, which takes only 5 min, suffices to preserve an optimal interface performance for a prolonged period of time.

Off-line solid-phase microextraction and capillary electrophoresis mass spectrometry to determine acidic pesticides in fruits

A method based on solid-phase microextraction (SPME) and capillary electrophoresis/mass spectrometry (CE/ MS) is described for determining simultaneously five acidic pesticides (o-phenylphenol, ioxynil, haloxyfop, acifluorfen, picloram) in fruits. The CE device is coupled to an electrospray interface by a commercial sheath-flow adapter. Emphasis is placed on fulfillment of the speed and sensitivity requirements. The best separation is achieved using 32 mM ammonium formate/acid formic buffer at pH 3.1, with a working voltage of 25 kV. The MS detection of the five pesticides was performed in negative ionization mode. Full-scan spectra with base peaks corresponding to [M-H]- were obtained except for acifluorfen, which gives [M-H-CO2]- as most abundant ion. Compared with the conventional EC-UV, the limits of detection were lower for acifluorfen, haloxyfop, ioxynil, and picloram, by a factor of 20, 20, 50, and 2, respectively. Extraction involved fruit sample homogenization with an acetone-water solution (5:1), filtration, and acetone evaporation prior to fiber extraction. SPME conditions such as time, pH, ion strength, stationary phase of the fiber, sample matrix, and desorption solvents were examined. The recovery of the analytes ranged from 7 to 94%, and the relative standard deviation was between 3 and, 13%. The method was found to be linear between 0.02 and 500 mg kg(-1) with correlation coefficients ranging from 0.992 to 0.997. The limits of quantification were from 0.02 to 5 mg kg(-1). The optimized method was successfully applied to the analysis of acid pesticides in fruit samples.

On-line sample preconcentration techniques in micellar electrokinetic chromatography

This review provides an overview as well as a practical understanding of on-line sample concentration techniques in micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC). MEKC as well as other capillary electrophoretic modes suffer from low concentration sensitivity due to minute sample volume and limited optical pathlength for on-capillary photometric detection. Two on-line sample preconcentration techniques, sample stacking and sweeping are known to be effective techniques for enhancement of the concentration sensitivity in MEKC. Sample stacking occurs as ions cross a boundary that separates regions of the high electric field sample zone and the low electric field background solution zone. The difference in migration velocity of pseudostationary phases within the two zones is the key to achieving the focusing effect. Sweeping is defined as the picking and accumulating of analytes by the pseudostationary phase that penetrates the sample zone devoid of pseudostationary phase. In this review, several examples of the sample stacking and sweeping under different experimental conditions are given, besides many references to applications.

Partial filling micellar electrokinetic chromatography optimization studies of ibuprofen, codeine and degradation products, and coupling to mass spectrometry

Studies have been performed to evaluate whether an on-line partial filling-micellar electrokinetic chromatography (PF-MEKC) system could be applied to a recently developed MEKC method for the separation of ibuprofen, codeine and one of the degradation products. Attempts to couple the PF-MEKC system to MS have also been performed. SDS concentration, micellar zone length and concentration of acetonitrile in the buffer were optimized using factorial design. When a small micelle zone was injected directly after the sample introduction, the results improved markedly. The MS parameters have not been optimized, but the studies show promising results for the use of PF-MEKC-mass spectrometry for identification of the degradation products.