title: Automated high-speed CE system for multiple samples.
abstract: A high-speed CE system for multiple samples was developed based on a short capillary and an automated sample introduction device consisting of a commercial multi-well plate and an x-y-z translation stage. The spontaneous injection method was used to achieve picoliter-scale sample injection from different sample wells. Under the optimized conditions, a 40 μm-long sample plug (corresponding to 78-pL plug volume) was obtained in a 50 μm id capillary, which ensured both the high separation speed and high separation efficiency. The performance of the system was demonstrated in the separation of FITC-labeled amino acids with LIF detection. Five FITC-labeled amino acids including arginine, phenylalanine, glycine, glutamic acid, and asparagine were separated within 15 s with an effective separation length of 1.5 cm. The separation efficiency ranged from 7.96 × 10(5)/m to 1.12 × 10(6)/m (corresponding to 1.26-0.89 μm plate heights). The repeatability of the peak heights calibrated with an inner standard for different sample wells was 2.4 and 2.7% (n = 20) for arginine and phenylalanine, respectively. The present system was also applied in consecutive separations of 20 different samples of FITC-labeled amino acids with a whole separation time of less than 6 min.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Institute of Microanalytical Systems, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, PR China.
authors.forename: Qi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Ting
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Yong-Qiang
authors.initials: YQ
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: Qing-Hu
authors.initials: QH
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Qun
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Fang
mesh_terms: D000596:Amino Acids / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification; D001331:Automation / Q000295:instrumentation*; D019075:Electrophoresis, Capillary / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D016650:Fluorescein-5-isothiocyanate / Q000737:chemistry; D008956:Models, Chemical; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D000596:Amino Acids; D016650:Fluorescein-5-isothiocyanate