A novel sheathless and electrodeless microelectrospray interface for the on-line coupling of capillary zone electrophoresis to mass spectrometry

✍ Scribed by M. Mazereeuw; A.J.P. Hofte; U.R. Tjaden; J. van der Greef

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1997
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 206 KB
• Volume: 11
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0951-4198
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-0231(19970615)11:9<981::aid-rcm901>3.0.co;2-s

✦ Synopsis

A novel microelectrospray interface for the on-line coupling of capillary-zone electrophoresis (CZE) and mass spectrometry is described. The outlet of the fused-silica CZE capillary is tapered and serves as the microspray tip. The spray does not contain a sheath flow nor does the capillary tip contain an electrode or a conductive coating. The capillary tip is placed directly in front of the mass spectrometer inlet. The electrical field for the CZE separation as well as for the electrospray is delivered by the CZE high-voltage power supply. The electrical contact at the capillary outlet is established through the air between the spray tip and the inlet of the mass spectrometer, which is at ground potential.

The performance of this interface is investigated using several β-agonists, which are low-molecular-weight, cationic drugs, as test compounds. The use of this interface type with electrospray does not affect the separation of the β-agonists. Comparison with a conventional sheath-flow electrospray interface, showed an improvement of sensitivity of approximately 1 order of magnitude with the microspray, with detection limits down to 5 nmol/L.