Capillary electrophoresis mechanism

Injecting the Sample The mechanism by which samples are introduced in capillary electrophoresis is quite different from that used in GC or HPLC. Two types of injection are commonly used hydrodynamic injection and electrokinetic injection. In both cases the capillary tube is filled with buffer solution. One end of the capillary tube is placed in the destination reservoir, and the other is placed in the sample vial. 

Enantioresolution in capillary electrophoresis (CE) is typically achieved with the help of chiral additives dissolved in the background electrolyte. A number of low as well as high molecular weight compounds such as proteins, antibiotics, crown ethers, and cyclodextrins have already been tested and optimized. Since the mechanism of retention and resolution remains ambiguous, the selection of an additive best suited for the specific separation relies on the one-at-a-time testing of each individual compound, a tedious process at best. Obviously, the use of a mixed library of chiral additives combined with an efficient deconvolution strategy has the potential to accelerate this selection. 

Instrumental resolution, 23 132 Instrumentation. See also Instruments calibration of, 21 161 capillary electrophoresis, 4 633 composition measurement, 11 785 for fermentation, 11 36—40 flow rate, 11 781-783 flow visualization, 11 785-786 fluid mechanics, 11 781-786 food processing, 12 87-88 gas chromatography, 4 611 6 413-414 infrared spectroscopy, 14 225-228 23 137-138... 

CEC is often inappropriately presented as a hybrid method that combines the capillary column format and electroosmotic flow employed in high-performance capillary electrophoresis with the use of a solid stationary phase and a separation mechanism, based on specific interactions of solutes with the stationary phase, characteristic of HPLC. Therefore CEC is most commonly implemented by means typical of both HPLC (packed columns) and CE (use of electrophoretic instrumentation). To date, both columns and instrumentation developed specifically for CEC remain scarce. 

With capillary electrophoresis (CE), another modern primarily analytically oriented separation methodology has recently found its way into routine and research laboratories of the pharmaceutical industries. As the most beneficial characteristics over HPLC separations the extremely high efficiency leading to enhanced peak capacities and often better detectability of minor impurities, complementary selectivity profiles to HPLC due to a different separation mechanism as well as the capability to perform separations faster than by HPLC are frequently encountered as the most prominent advantages. On the negative side, there have to be mentioned detection sensitivity limitations due to the short path length of on-capillary UV detection, less robust methods, and occasionally problems with run-to-run repeatability. Nevertheless, CE assays have now been adopted by industrial labs as well and this holds in particular for enantiomer separations of chiral pharmaceuticals. While native cyclodextrins and their derivatives, respectively, are commonly employed as chiral additives to the BGEs to create mobility differences for the distinct enantiomers in the electric field, it could be demonstrated that cinchona alkaloids [128-130] and in particular their derivatives are applicable selectors for CE enantiomer separation of chiral acids [19,66,119,131-136]. 

Capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) is the most common electrophoretic separation technique due to its simplicity of operation and its flexibility. It is the standard mode for drug analysis, identification of impurities, and pharmacokinetic studies. Other separation modes, such as capillary isotachopho-resis (CITP), micellar electrokinetc chromatography (MEKC), capillary electrochromatography (CEC), capillary gel electrophoresis (CGE), capillary isoelectric focusing, and affinity capillary electrophoresis (ACE), have then-advantages in solving specific separation problems, since the separation mechanism of each mode is different. 

Capillary electrophoresis has been applied for the enantioselective determination of the binding constants of chiral drugs with cyclodextrins for basically the following two reasons (1) optimization of chiral selector concentration and (2) understanding the fine mechanisms of enantioseparations in CE. The first group of studies have been published mainly on the early stage of chiral CE development, whereas the second goal is followed in the most recent studies, mainly by Rizzi and Kremser (10,13) and Scriba et al. 

PK Owens, AF Fell, MW Coleman, M Kinns, JC Berridge. Use of H -NMR spectroscopy to determine the enantioselective mechanism of neutral and anionic cyclodextrins in capillary electrophoresis. J Pharm Biomed Anal 15 1603-1619, 1997. 

More generally, one-electron oxidation of protein-bound phenols to form reactive ary-loxyl radicals is a possible pro-oxidant mechanism since these radicals can propagate H-atom or electron transfers within the protein. In addition to phenol protein covalent coupling, these phenol-mediated oxidative damages to proteins could be detrimental to their function as enzymes, receptors, and membrane transporters. For instance, investigations by capillary electrophoresis have shown that quercetin in concentrations lower than 25 pM potentiates HSA degradation by AAPH-derived peroxyl radicals. 

Apryll M. Stalcup received her PhD in chemistry (1988) from Georgetown University in Washington, DC. After postdoctoral training at the University of Missouri-Rolla, she joined the Department of Chemistry at the University of Hawaii-Manoa in 1990 as an assistant professor. She moved to the Chemistry Department at the University of Cincinnati as an associate professor in 1996 and was promoted as a professor in 2002. Her research interests include liquid chromatography, capillary electrophoresis, chiral separations, and investigations of separation mechanisms. 

Electrophoresis is another separation process that, however, is based on the mobility of ions in an electric field. The different modes of modern capillary electrophoresis with its different separation mechanisms have paid more and more attention during the last decade. 

The method of complete electrolysis is also important in elucidating the mechanism of an electrode reaction. Usually, the substance under study is completely electrolyzed at a controlled potential and the products are identified and determined by appropriate methods, such as gas chromatography (GC), high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and capillary electrophoresis. In the GC method, the products are often identified and determined by the standard addition method. If the standard addition method is not applicable, however, other identification/determination techniques such as GC-MS should be used. The HPLC method is convenient when the product is thermally unstable or difficult to vaporize. HPLC instruments equipped with a high-sensitivity UV detector are the most popular, but a more sophisticated system like LC-MS may also be employed. In some cases, the products are separated from the solvent-supporting electrolyte system by such processes as vaporization, extraction and precipitation. If the products need to be collected separately, a preparative chromatographic method is use-... 

During a capillary electrophoresis experiment it is observed that if the capillary contains an acrylamide gel as well as an electrolyte then the speed of migration is slowed by the mechanical effects of filtration through the gel. This is particularly significant for larger molecules. The following relationship can be considered as proven ... 

Capillary electrophoresis provides unprecedented resolution. When we conduct chromatography in a packed column, peaks are broadened by three mechanisms in the van Deemter equation (23-33) multiple flow paths, longitudinal diffusion, and finite rate of mass transfer. An open tubular column eliminates multiple paths and thereby reduces plate height and improves resolution. Capillary electrophoresis reduces plate height further by knocking out the mass transfer term that comes from the finite time needed for solute to equilibrate... 

Ondeger 0, Zorlu AF, Basaran N (1999) Use of the alkaline comet assay to monitor DNA damage in technicians exposed to low-dose radiation. J Occup Environ Med 41 693-698 Valenzuela MT, Nunez Ml, Guerrero M, Villalobos M, de Almodovar JMR (2000) Capillary electrophoresis of DNA damage after irradiation apoptosis and necrosis. J Chromatogr A, 871 321 -330 van Eldik R, Meyerstein D (2000) High-pressure radiolysis as a tool in the study of transition metal reaction mechanisms. Acc Chem Res 33 207-214... 

Leland and Powell also studied ECL obtained from reaction of [(bpy)3Ru]3+ with trialkylamines [47], Since the mechanism involves an electron transfer from the amine to Ru3+, there exists an inverse relationship between the first ionization potential of the amine and ECL intensity. The relative intensity of [(bpy)3Ru]2+ ECL was found to be ordered tertiary > secondary > primary. Quaternary ammonium ions and aromatic amines do not produce ECL with Ru(II) diimine complexes. Brune and Bobbitt subsequently reported the detection of amino acids by [(bpy)3Ru]2+ ECL [28,29], Employing capillary electrophoresis for separation, the presence of various amino acids can be detected directly by reaction with [(bpy)3Ru]3+ generated in situ with up to femtomo-lar sensitivity and with a selectivity for proline and leucine over other amino acids. The formation of an amine radical cation intermediate is characteristic of proposed mechanisms of both aliphatic amines and amino acids. 

The chiral recognition mechanisms in NLC and NCE devices are similar to conventional liquid chromatography and capillary electrophoresis with chiral mobile phase additives. It is important to note here that, to date, no chiral stationary phase has been developed in microfluidic devices. As discussed above polysaccharides, cyclodextrins, macrocyclic glycopeptide antibiotics, proteins, crown ethers, ligand exchangers, and Pirkle s type molecules are the most commonly used chiral selectors. These compounds... 

Hui, F. (2004) High Performance Liquid Chromatography and Capillary Electrophoresis Chiral Recognition Mechanisms Using Glycopeptide Macrocyclic Antibiotics as Selectors, Fenxi Huaxue 32, 964-968. 

Capillary electrophoresis (CE) provided an orthogonal separation technique. The retention mechanism can be manipulated with buffers or addition of surfactants to form micelles for the analysis where size and charge differences... 

The electrophoretic separation technique is based on the principle that, under the influence of an applied potential field, different species in solution will migrate at different velocities from one another. When an external electric field is applied to a solution of charged species, each ion moves toward the electrode of opposite charge. The velocities of the migrating species depend not only on the electric field, but also on the shapes of the species and their environmment. Historically, electrophoresis has been performed on a support medium such as a semisolid slab gel or in nongel support media such as paper or cellulose acetate. The support media provide the physical support and mechanical stability for the fluidic buffer system. Capillary electrophoresis (CE) has emerged as an alternative form of electrophoresis, where the capillary wall provides the mechanical stability for the carrier electrolyte. Capillary electrophoresis is the collective term which incorporates all of the electrophoretic modes that are performed within a capillary. 

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