On-line sample preconcentration by sweeping and poly(ethylene oxide)-mediated stacking for simultaneous analysis of nine pairs of amino acid enantiomers in capillary electrophoresis

This study proposes a sensitive method for the simultaneous separation and concentration of 9 pairs of amino acid enantiomers by combining poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO)-based stacking, beta-cyclodextrin (beta-CD)-mediated micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC), and 9-fluoroenylmethyl chloroformate (FMOC) derivatization. The 9 pairs of FMOC-derivatized amino acid enantiomers were baseline separated using a discontinuous system, and the buffer vials contained a solution of 150 mM Tris-borate (TB), 12.5% (v/v) isopropanol (IPA), 0.5% (w/v) PEO, 35 mM sodium taurodeoxycholate (STDC), and 35 mM beta-CD, and the capillary was filled with a solution of 1.5 M TB, 12.5% (v/v) IPA, 35 mM STDC, and 35 mM beta-CD. Based on the difference in viscosity between the sample zone and PEO solution and because of the STDC sweeping, the discontinuous system effectively stacked 670 nL of the 9 pairs of FMOC-derivatized amino acid enantiomers without losing chiral resolution. Consequently, the limits of detection for the 9 pairs of FMOC-derivatized amino acid enantiomers were reduced to 40-60 nM. This method was successfully used to determine D-Tryptophan (Trp), L-Trp, D-Phenylalanine (Phe), L-Phe, D-Glutamic acid (Glu), and L-Glu in various types of beers. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.