Coupling of Open Tubular Liquid Chromatography to Electrospray Mass Spectrometry with a Nanospray Interface

Liquid phase detection in the miniature scale. Microfluidic and capillary scale measurement and separation systems. A tutorial review

Microfluidic and capillary devices are increasingly being used in analytical applications while their overall size keeps decreasing. Detection sensitivity for these microdevices gains more importance as device sizes and consequently, sample volumes, decrease. This paper reviews optical, electrochemical, electrical, and mass spectrometric detection methods that are applicable to capillary scale and microfluidic devices, with brief introduction to the principles in each case. Much of this is considered in the context of separations. We do consider theoretical aspects of separations by open tubular liquid chromatography, arguably the most potentially fertile area of separations that has been left fallow largely because of lack of scale-appropriate detection methods. We also examine the theoretical basis of zone electrophoretic separations. Optical detection methods discussed include UV/Vis absorbance, fluorescence, chemiluminescence and refractometry. Amperometry is essentially the only electrochemical detection method used in microsystems. Suppressed conductance and especially contactless conductivity (admittance) detection are in wide use for the detection of ionic analytes. Microfluidic devices, integrated to various mass spectrometers, including ESI-MS, APCI-MS, and MALDI-MS are discussed. We consider the advantages and disadvantages of each detection method and compare the best reported limits of detection in as uniform a format as the available information allows. While this review pays more attention to recent developments, our primary focus has been on the novelty and ingenuity of the approach, regardless of when it was first proposed, as long as it can be potentially relevant to miniature platforms.

Open tubular liquid chromatography: Recent advances and future trends

Nano-liquid chromatography (nanoLC) is gaining significant attention as a primary analytical technique across various scientific domains. Unlike conventional high-performance LC, nanoLC utilizes columns with inner diameters (i.ds.) usually ranging from 10 to 150 μm and operates at mobile phase flow rates between 10 and 1000 nl/min, offering improved chromatographic performance and detectability. Currently, most exploration of nanoLC has focused on particle-packed columns. Although open tubular LC (OTLC) can provide superior performance, optimized OTLC columns require very narrow i.ds. (< 10 μm) and demand challenging instrumentation. At the moment, these challenges have limited the success of OTLC. Nevertheless, remarkable progress has been made in developing and utilizing OTLC systems featuring narrow columns (< 2 μm). Additionally, significant efforts have been made to explore larger columns (10-75 μm i.d), demonstrating practical applicability in many situations. Due to their perceived advantages, interest in OTLC has resurged in the last two decades. This review provides an updated outlook on the latest developments in OTLC, focusing on instrumental challenges, achievements, and advancements in column technology. Moreover, it outlines selected applications that illustrate the potential of OTLC for performing targeted and untargeted studies.

Application of Porous Layer Open Tubular Columns: Beyond Permanent Gases

Porous layer open tubular (PLOT) columns are traditionally built with particles that are adhered to the tubing walls. These columns have unique selectivity and provide a great alternative when gaseous samples need to be separated, but these columns also have been used to separate higher boiling point analytes. There are many different commercially available stationary phases of PLOT columns, including alumina-based columns, molecular sieves, and porous polymers. Alumina-based columns have an aluminum oxide stationary phase that is then deactivated with different salts. These columns have high capacity, superior loading ability, and produce symmetrical peaks. Molecular sieve columns are designed specifically for permanent gas separations because the columns have high retention. Porous polymer columns are highly hydrophobic, making them more applicable to analyzing a wider range of samples.

An overview of open tubular liquid chromatography with a focus on the coupling with mass spectrometry for the analysis of small molecules

Open tubular liquid chromatography (OT-LC) can provide superior chromatographic performance and more favorable mass spectrometry (MS) detection conditions. These features could provide enhanced sensitivity when coupled with electrospray ionization sources (ESI-) and lead to unprecedented detection capabilities if interfaced with a highly structural informative electron ionization (EI) source. In the past, the exploitation of OT columns in liquid chromatography evolved slowly. However, the recent instrumental developments in capillary/nanoLC-MS created new opportunities in developing and applying OT-LC-MS. Currently, the analytical advantages of OT-LC-MS are mainly exploited in the fields of proteomics and biosciences analysis. Nevertheless, under the right conditions, OT-LC-MS can also offer superior chromatographic performance and enhanced sensitivity in analyzing small molecules. This review will provide an overview of the latest developments in OT-LC-MS, focusing on the wide variety of employed separation mechanisms, innovative stationary phases, emerging column fabrication technologies, and new OT formats. In the same way, the OT-LC's opportunities and shortcomings coupled to both ESI and EI will be discussed, highlighting the complementary character of those two ionization modes to expand the LC's detection boundaries in the performance of targeted and untargeted studies.

Different Stationary Phase Selectivities and Morphologies for Intact Protein Separations

The central dogma of biology proposed that one gene encodes for one protein. We now know that this does not reflect reality. The human body has approximately 20,000 protein-encoding genes; each of these genes can encode more than one protein. Proteins expressed from a single gene can vary in terms of their post-translational modifications, which often regulate their function within the body. Understanding the proteins within our bodies is a key step in understanding the cause, and perhaps the solution, to disease. This is one of the application areas of proteomics, which is defined as the study of all proteins expressed within an organism at a given point in time. The human proteome is incredibly complex. The complexity of biological samples requires a combination of technologies to achieve high resolution and high sensitivity analysis. Despite the significant advances in mass spectrometry, separation techniques are still essential in this field. Liquid chromatography is an indispensable tool by which low-abundant proteins in complex samples can be enriched and separated. However, advances in chromatography are not as readily adapted in proteomics compared to advances in mass spectrometry. Biologists in this field still favour reversed-phase chromatography with fully porous particles. The purpose of this review is to highlight alternative selectivities and stationary phase morphologies that show potential for application in top-down proteomics; the study of intact proteins.

Integrated enzyme reactor and high resolving chromatography in "sub-chip" dimensions for sensitive protein mass spectrometry

Reliable, sensitive and automatable analytical methodology is of great value in e.g. cancer diagnostics. In this context, an on-line system for enzymatic cleavage of proteins, subsequent peptide separation by liquid chromatography (LC) with mass spectrometric detection has been developed using "sub-chip" columns (10-20 μm inner diameter, ID). The system could detect attomole amounts of isolated cancer biomarker progastrin-releasing peptide (ProGRP), in a more automatable fashion compared to previous methods. The workflow combines protein digestion using an 20 μm ID immobilized trypsin reactor with a polymeric layer of 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate-vinyl azlactone (HEMA-VDM), desalting on a polystyrene-divinylbenzene (PS-DVB) monolithic trap column, and subsequent separation of resulting peptides on a 10 μm ID (PS-DVB) porous layer open tubular (PLOT) column. The high resolution of the PLOT columns was maintained in the on-line system, resulting in narrow chromatographic peaks of 3-5 seconds. The trypsin reactors provided repeatable performance and were compatible with long-term storage.

New trends in reversed-phase liquid chromatographic separations of therapeutic peptides and proteins: theory and applications

In the pharmaceutical field, there is considerable interest in the use of peptides and proteins for therapeutic purposes. There are various ways to characterize such complex samples, but during the last few years, a significant number of technological developments have been brought to the field of RPLC and RPLC-MS. Thus, the present review focuses first on the basics of RPLC for peptides and proteins, including the inherent problems, some possible solutions and some directions for developing a new RPLC method that is dedicated to biomolecules. Then the latest advances in RPLC, such as wide-pore core-shell particles, fully porous sub-2 μm particles, organic monoliths, porous layer open tubular columns and elevated temperature, are described and critically discussed in terms of both kinetic efficiency and selectivity. Numerous applications with real samples are presented that confirm the relevance of these different strategies. Finally, one of the key advantages of RPLC for peptides and proteins over other historical approaches is its inherent compatibility with MS using both MALDI and ESI sources.

Ultratrace LC/MS Proteomic Analysis Using 10-μm-i.d. Porous Layer Open Tubular Poly(styrene−divinylbenzene) Capillary Columns

In this paper, the preparation and performance of long, high-efficiency poly(styrene-divinylbenzene) (PS-DVB), 10-microm-i.d. porous layer open tubular (PLOT) capillary columns are described. PLOT capillaries ( approximately 3% RSD column-to-column retention time), with relatively high permeability, were prepared by in-situ polymerization. Relatively high loading capacities, approximately 100 fmol for angiotensin I and approximately 50 fmol for insulin, were obtained with a 4.2 m x 10-microm-i.d. PLOT column. Low detection levels (attomole to sub-attomole) were achieved when the column was coupled on-line with a linear ion trap MS (LTQ). Analysis of human epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), a large transmembrane tyrosine kinase receptor with heterogeneous phosphorylation and glycosylation structures, was obtained at the 25 fmol level. The PLOT column yielded a peak capacity of approximately 400 for the separation of a complex tryptic digest mixture when the sample preparation included a 50-microm-i.d. PS-DVB monolithic precolumn and ESI-MS detection. As an example of the power of the column, 3046 unique peptides covering 566 distinct Methanosarcina acetivorans proteins were identified from a 50 ng in-gel tryptic digest sample combining five cuts in a single LC/MS/MS analysis using the LTQ. The results demonstrate the potential of the PLOT column for high-resolution LC/MS at the ultratrace level.

Sheathless Capillary Electrophoresis/Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry Using a Pulled Bare Fused-Silica Capillary as the Electrospray Emitter

It has always been assumed that electrical contact at the capillary outlet is a necessary requirement when coupling capillary electrophoresis (CE) with electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS). In this study, we used a pulled bare-capillary tip as the ESI emitter, but neither was it coated with any electrically conductive materials nor was a high external voltage applied on its outlet. In this paper, we demonstrate that this straightforward approach may be used to generate multiply charged ions of proteins and peptides through electrospray ionization. Our results indicate that peptides and proteins, including bradykinin, cytochrome c, myoglobin, and tryptic digest products that elute from a pulled bare-capillary tip can be detected directly by ESI-MS using the tapered bare-capillary interface. Thus, we have demonstrated that CE and ESI-MS may be combined successfully without the need to modify the outlet of the capillary tip with an electrically contacting material.

A sheath-flow nanospray interface for capillary electrophoresis/mass spectrometry

We have developed a novel sheath-flow interface for low-flow electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) and capillary electrophoresis/electrospray mass spectrometry (CE/ESI-MS). The interface is composed of two capillaries. One is a tapered fused-silica ESI emitter suitable for microliter and nanoliter flow rate electrospray and the other is a tail-end gold-coated CE separation column that is inserted into the emitter. A sheath liquid is supplied between the column and the emitter capillaries. The gold coating and the sheath liquid are used as the conducting media for ESI and the CE circuit. This novel design was initially evaluated by an infusion ESI-MS analysis of the most common antiretroviral dideoxynucleosides, followed by CE/MS coupling analysis of several antidepressant drugs. With infusion studies, the effects of the sheath liquid and the sample flow rates on detection sensitivity and signal stability were investigated. For an emitter with an internal diameter of 30 microm, the optimum flow rates for the sheath and the sample were 200 and 300 nL/min, respectively. The main improvement of this approach in comparison with conventional sheath liquid approaches using an ionspray interface is the gain in sensitivity. Sensitivities were three times better for dideoxynucleosides analyzed by infusion and 12 times higher for antidepressant drugs analyzed by CE/MS with this interface compared with ionspray. The emitter is durable, disposable, and simple to fabricate.

Reproducibility in fabrication and analytical performance of polyaniline-coated nanoelectrospray emitters

Nanoelectrospray ionization mass spectrometry is an ideal technique for analysis of biomolecules when sample quantities are limited. With the use of this technique, 1-2 microL of sample can be electrosprayed for long time periods (hours) because of the low flow rate (nanoliters per minute) attainable. However, the long-term durability of such emitters has been an impediment to the routine use of nanoelectrospray. The development of longer-lasting nanoelectrospray emitters has often resulted in increasingly complex and tedious fabrication processes. Furthermore, an easily produced, reproducible, and durable nanoelectrospray emitter is the ultimately desired goal. Here, the reproducibility of the inner diameters and geometry for nanoelectrospray emitter glass substrates is assessed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results indicate that provided that glass pulling parameters remain constant, reproducible inner diameters can be produced from glass capillary tubing within the same batch; however, there are interbatch differences. In addition, SEM revealed reproducible taper geometry could also be obtained. Borosilicate and fused-silica nanoelectrospray emitters produced by these protocols were then coated with polyaniline, and their analytical figures of merit were determined using a triple quadrupole mass analyzer. Over a 1-h run, polyaniline-coated emitters showed fairly stable signal with coefficients of variation ranging from 8.92 to 27.6%. Single-scan detection limits below 1 amol were achieved for polyaniline-coated fused-silica emitters for flow rates averaging <10 nL/min. Linear mass spectrometric response with solution concentration was observed for the polyaniline-coated emitters over the range 10 nM-10 microM, with coefficients of variation ranging from 1.44 to 7.26%. This indicates that when nanelectrospray emitter inner diameters are made reproducibly, it is possible to achieve linear quantitative response for nanoelectrospray.

Micro-electrospray with stainless steel emitters

The physical processes underlying micro-electrospray (micro-ES) performance were investigated using a stainless steel (SS) emitter with a blunt tip. Sheathless micro-ES could be generated at a blunt SS tip without any tapering or sanding if ESI conditions were optimized. The Taylor cone was found to shrink around the inner diameter of the SS tubing, which permitted a low flow rate of 150 nL/min for sheathless microspray on the blunt tip (100 microm i.d. x 400 microm o.d.). It is believed that the wettability and/or hydrophobicity of SS tips are responsible for their micro-ES performance. The outlet orifice was further nipped to reduce the size of the spray cone and limit the flow rate to 50-150 nL/min, resulting in peptide detection down to attomole quantities consumed per spectrum. The SS emitter was also integrated into a polymethylmethacrylate microchip and demonstrated satisfactory performance in the analysis and identification of a myoglobin digest.

Interfaces for coupled liquid-phase separation/mass spectrometry techniques. An update on recent developments

An update is presented covering the latest developments in the interfacing of liquid-phase separation systems and mass spectrometers. The interfacing devices presented are those developed for continuous-flow matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization, micro- and nano-liquid chromatography/masspectrometry (MS), capillary electrophoresis/MS and on-chip separation technologies/MS. From the information that can be found in the most recent literature on the topic, it is evident that the trend towards the miniaturization of separation and interface devices is gaining ground. This can be rationalized by the substantial gains in sensitivity for the detection and study of extremely low levels of analytes and especially of high molecular mass biopolymers.

Evaluations of the stability of sheathless electrospray ionization mass spectrometry emitters using electrochemical techniques

The processes that cause the failure of sheathless electrospray ionization (ESI) emitters, based on different kinds of gold coatings on fused-silica capillaries, are described and explained. The methods chosen for this study include electrochemical methods, ICPMS analysis of the electrolytes used, SEM studies, and electrospray experiments. Generally, the failure occurs by loss of the conductive coating. It is shown that emitters with sputter-coated gold lose their coatings because of mechanical stress caused by the gas evolution accompanying water oxidation or reduction. Emitters with gold coatings on top of adhesion layers of chromium and nickel alloy withstand this mechanical stress and have excellent durability when operating as cathodes. When operating as anodes, the adhesion layer is electrochemically dissolved through the gold film, and the gold film then flakes off. It is shown that the conductive coating behaves as a cathode even in the positive electrospray mode when the magnitude of a superimposed reductive electrophoretic current exceeds that of the oxidative electrospray current. Fairy-dust coatings developed in our laboratory (see Barnidge, D. R.; etal.Anal. Chem. 1999, 71, 4115-4118,) bygluing gold dust onto the emitter, are unaffected by the mechanical stress due to gas evolution. When oxidized, the fairy-dust coatings show an increased surface roughness and decreased conductivities due to the formation of gold oxide. The resistance of this oxide layer is however negligible in comparison with that of the gas phase in ESI. Furthermore, since no flaking and only negligible electrochemical etching of gold was found, practically unlimited emitter lifetimes may be achieved with fairy-dust coatings.

A simple and robust conductive graphite coating for sheathless electrospray emitters used in capillary electrophoresis/mass spectrometry

A graphite-polyimide mixture was used as a conductive coating for sheathless electrospray emitters. The coating procedure described is simple and inexpensive compared to previously described methods. An investigation of the stability of the conductive coating carried out by electrochemical methods revealed good performances during oxidative stress. In addition, no decrease in emitter performance was seen during continuous electrospray in the positive electrospray mode for two weeks. Fast capillary electrophoresis with attomole sensitivity demonstrated the excellent performance of the described sheathless interface when used in conjunction with an orthogonal time-of-flight mass spectrometer. The overall simplicity, stability and low cost of this type of sheathless emitter make the described approach highly suitable for any on-column coupling of low flow rate separation techniques to a mass spectrometer.