Charge-Based Separation of Acid-Functional Polymers by Non-aqueous Capillary Electrophoresis Employing Deprotonation and Heteroconjugation Approaches

Water-borne polymers are in ever-increasing demand due to their favorable ecological profile compared to traditional solvent-borne polymer systems. Many water-borne polymer particles are stabilized in aqueous media by the incorporation of acid-functional monomers. Due to the large variety of comonomers applied, these water-borne polymers have various superimposed statistical distributions, which make it challenging to obtain in-depth information regarding incorporation of the acidic monomers. For selective analysis of the incorporated acidic monomers, a charge-based non-aqueous capillary electrophoresis (NACE) separation was developed. Two approaches were developed: (i) deprotonation of the acid functionality with an organically soluble strong base and (ii) heteroconjugation of anions of carboxylic acids with incorporated acid functionality. In both approaches, N-methylpyrrolidone, as a strong solvent for polymers with a favorable relative permittivity for the presence of dissociated ionic species, was used for the separation. It was shown that anions of carboxylic acids specifically associate with the incorporated acid groups in the polymers, resulting in negatively charged complexes that could be separated based on charge-to-size ratio by NACE. Although both approaches give comparable results with respect to acid distribution for acid-functional polymers, the effective mobility of the deprotonated polymers is roughly double that obtained from the heteroconjugation approach. Unlike the heteroconjugation approach, deprotonation conditions were detrimental to the fused-silica capillary, limiting practical use. Polymers with different chemical compositions, molecular weights, and acid contents were subjected to the CE approaches developed. Polymers with varying molecular weight but similar relative acid monomer content were shown to have similar migration times, which confirms that this approach separates polymers based on charge-to-size ratio.

Nonaqueous capillary gel electrophoretic analysis of metal nanoclusters in polymeric-DMSO-Li+ systems

In this study, we investigated a combination of nonaqueous CE with capillary gel electrophoresis to achieve highly efficient analysis of metal nanoclusters. In the nonaqueous capillary gel electrophoresis (NACGE), PVA and hydroxypropyl methylcellulose were dissolved in DMSO. In addition, to enhance the entanglement of the polymer chains, Li⁺ ions were also added. By employing the PVA-DMSO-Li⁺ solution, we studied the effects of the molecular weight, the degree of hydrolysis, and the concentration of the polymers and Li⁺ on the separation. As a result, good separations of standard mononuclear metal complexes and tetrairon nanoclusters were achieved by NACGE.

Separation of synthetic (co)polymers by capillary electrophoresis techniques

Capillary electrophoresis (CE) is a very efficient tool for separating and characterizing synthetic polymers, copolymers, and polyelectrolytes. Different modes of CE (free solution capillary electrophoresis [FSCE], entangled polymer solution CE [EPSCE], capillary gel electrophoresis [CGE], or micellar electrokinetic chromatography [MEKC]) can be used depending on the characteristics of the polymer solutes (end charged, evenly charged, or uncharged polymers) and on the polymer solute heterogeneities (molecular mass, functionality, chemical composition). To illustrate the potential of CE, four different methods are proposed using either nonaqueous or aqueous electrolytes. The first method describes the separation of synthetic organic polypeptides according to their functionalities and molar masses in a nonaqueous electrolyte. In a second method, polyelectrolyte oligomers are separated by FSCE in aqueous buffer. The third method demonstrates the great potential of EPSCE for the size-based separation of evenly charged polyelectrolytes on a wide range of molar masses. The last method describes a simple two-dimensional approach realized in a single capillary that combines a separation according to the chemical composition (FSCE) with a size-based separation (EPSCE).

Nonaqueous and aqueous-organic media for the enantiomeric separations of neutral organophosphorus pesticides by CE

The enantiomeric separation of some poorly water-soluble organophosphorus pesticides (OPs) has been investigated using nonaqueous solvent and aqueous-organic solvent systems. In this work, sodium cholate (SC) either with SDS or gamma-CD was used to achieve enantiomeric separations of four neutral and poorly water-soluble OPs, i.e., profenofos, prothiofos, sulprofos, and pyraclofos. Electrophoretic medium consisted of a mixture of methanol (MeOH) with ACN (4:1 v/v) or a mixture of MeOH with H(2)O and ACN (5:4:1 v/v/v). On one hand, NACE was applied for enantiomeric separation of pyraclofos using a large amount of chiral and achiral surfactants (SC and SDS). On the other hand, H(2)O was added to act as a solvent additive to increase the solubility of gamma-CD in the organic solvents such as MeOH and ACN, in which the solubility of gamma-CD was very low. The presence of H(2)O was found to be particularly useful for the enantiomeric separation of profenofos, prothiofos, and sulprofos. In this way, the range of application of the neutral CDs in CE has been extended. In addition, SC was used as the only electrolyte. The proposed method has been applied for the analysis of soil samples.

Capillary electrophoresis inN,N-dimethylformamide

N,N-Dimethylformamide (DMF) is a dipolar protophilic solvent with physicochemical properties that makes it suitable as solvent for capillary electrophoresis (CE). It is prerequisite for the proper application of CE to adjust and to change the pH of the background electrolyte (BGE) in a defined manner. This was done in the present work using benzoic acid-benzoate by selecting different concentration ratios of acid and salt, and calculating the theoretical pH from the activity-corrected Henderson-Hasselbalch equation. The mobilities of the analytes (chloro- and nitro-substituted phenolates) were found to follow reasonably well the typical sigmoid mobility versus pH curve as predicted by theory. The actual mobilities and pK(a) values (at 25 degrees C) of the analytes were derived from these curves. pK(a) values were in the range of 11.1-11.7, being thus 3-4.4 units higher than in water. This pK(a) shift is caused by the destabilization of the analyte anion and the better stability (solubility) of the molecular analyte acid in DMF, which overcome the higher basicity of DMF compared to water. Absolute mobilities were calculated from the actual mobilities; they were between 32x10(-9) and 42x10(-9) m(2)/Vxs. Slight deviations of the measured mobilities from the theoretical mobility versus pH curve were discussed on the bases of ion pairing and heteroconjugation and homoconjugation of either buffer components or buffer components and analytes. Heteroconjugation was used as a mechanism for the electrically driven separation of neutral analyte molecules in a BGE where salicylate acted as complex forming ion. Rough estimation of the complexation constants for the phenolic analytes gave values in the range of 100-200 L/mol. Addition of water to the solvent decreased the effect of heteroconjugation, but it was still present up to the surprisingly high concentration of 20% water. Electrophoretically relevant parameters like ionic mobilities and pK(a) values, and conjugation and ion pairing are dependent on the water content of the solvent. The water uptake of DMF was measured when exposed to humidity of ambient air. The resulted behavior of the water uptake was found rather similar to that for acetonitrile and methanol.

Nonaqueous and aqueous capillary electrophoresis of synthetic polymers

In this work, the use of capillary electrophoresis (CE) to analyze synthetic polymers is reviewed including works published till February 2004. The revised works have been classified depending on the CE mode (e.g., free solution capillary electrophoresis, capillary gel electrophoresis, etc.) and type of buffer (i.e., nonaqueous, aqueous and hydro-organic background electrolytes) employed to separate synthetic macromolecules. Advantages and drawbacks of these different separation procedures for polymer analysis are discussed. Also, physicochemical studies of complex polymer systems by CE are reviewed, including drug release studies, synthetic polyampholytes, dendrimers, fullerenes, carbon nanotubes and associative copolymers.

Capillary electrochromatography in the size-exclusion mode

In this review the literature on the application of capillary electrochromatography (CEC) for size-based separations of macromolecules is summarized. Opportunities and limitations of CEC specially related to the size-exclusion mode (SEEC) are indicated. Applications with synthetic polymer samples as well as with biomacromolecules (polysaccharides, proteins) are shown. The prospects for a further development and application of SEEC are discussed.