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Design and applications of a self-aligning liquid junction-electrospray interface for capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry

1996; Elsevier BV; Volume: 685; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/s0378-4347(96)00176-4

1872-812X

Timothy Wachs, Robin L. Sheppard, Jack D. Henion,

Innovative Microfluidic and Catalytic Techniques Innovation

A simple self-aligning liquid junction-electrospray interface for coupling a capillary electrophoresis (CE) system to an atmospheric pressure ionization (API) mass spectrometer (CE-MS) was developed. In contrast to previous liquid junction interfaces, the self-aligning liquid junction interface simplifies the precise alignment of the CE capillary and the sprayer needle and uses a positive make-up flow. Several capillary CE-MS applications were run using both the self-aligning liquid junction interface and the widely used sheath flow interface for comparison purposes. The electrospray stability of the self-aligning liquid junction interface is consistently better even when non-volatile electrolyte solutions are used. At first, some band broadening was obtained with the self-aligning liquid junction interface. Experiments with different CE buffer systems suggested that this band broadening was caused by the materials used in constructing the interface. By using a more inert material for the sprayer needle, the self-aligning liquid junction exhibits excellent electrophoretic resolution, comparable sensitivity, and higher signal-to-noise ratios when run under the same conditions as the sheath flow interface.