Preparation and characterization of a polystyrene/bovine serum albumin nanoparticle-coated capillary for chiral separation using open-tubular capillary electrochromatography

Polystyrene (PS) nanoparticles coated by BSA, hereafter denoted as PS/BSA, were prepared and chemically immobilized for the first time onto a capillary inner wall for open-tubular CEC (OTCEC). EOF and scanning electron micrography were used to characterize the prepared nanoparticle-coated capillaries. To investigate the performance of the prepared columns in OTCEC, chiral separation of d,l-tryptophan (dl-Trp) was performed in monolayer BSA-modified capillary and PS/BSA nanoparticle-coated columns. The results indicated that the nanoparticle-modified column afforded a higher resolution compared with the monolayer type. Rapid enantioseparation of dl-Trp (within 3 min) was achieved with the PS/BSA-immobilized column using an electroosmotic pump-assisted CEC. Enantiomer separations of other compounds like dl-tyrosine and warfarin were also achieved with the column. Besides, run-to-run and column-to-column repeatabilities of the PS/BSA-coated column in the chiral separation were systematically introduced.