Gradient elution in capillary electrochromatography
- Sandia National Labs., Livermore, CA (United States)
- Stanford Univ., CA (United States). Dept. of Chemistry
In analogy to pressure-driven gradient techniques in high-performance liquid chromatography, a system has been developed for delivering electroosmotically-driven solvent gradients for capillary electrochromatography (CEC). Dynamic gradients with sub-mL/min flow rates are generated by merging two electroosmotic flows that are regulated by computer-controlled voltages. These flows are delivered by two fused-silica capillary arms attached to a T-connector, where they mix and then flow into a capillary column that has been electrokinetically packed with 3-mm reversed-phase particles. The inlet of one capillary arm is placed in a solution reservoir containing one mobile phase and the inlet of the other is placed in a second reservoir containing a second mobile phase. Two independent computer-controlled programmable high-voltage power supplies (0-50 kV)--one providing an increasing ramp and the other providing a decreasing ramp--are used to apply variable high-voltage potentials to the mobile phase reservoirs to regulate the electroosmotic flow in each arm. The ratio of the electroosmotic flow rates between the two arms is changed with time according to the computer-controlled voltages to deliver the required gradient profile to the separation column. Experiments were performed to confirm the composition of the mobile phase during a gradient run and to determine the change of the composition in response to the programmed voltage profile. To demonstrate the performance of electroosmotically-driven gradient elution in CEC, a mixture of 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) was separated in less than 90 minutes. This gradient technique is expected to be well-suited for generating not only solvent gradients in CEC, but also other types of gradients such as pH- and ionic-strength gradients in capillary electrokinetic separations and analyses.
- Research Organization:
- Sandia Labs., Livermore, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Energy Research, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC04-94AL85000
- OSTI ID:
- 552774
- Report Number(s):
- SAND-97-8276; ON: DE97054478; TRN: 97:005923
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: Aug 1997
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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