On-chip chiral separation based on bovine serum albumin-conjugated carbon nanotubes as stationary phase in a microchannel

Electrophoresis. 2006 Aug;27(15):3129-35. doi: 10.1002/elps.200500840.

Abstract

A novel method of chiral separation based on protein-stationary phase immobilized in a poly(methyl methacrylate) microfluidic chip was developed. BSA conjugated with the shortened carboxylic single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) was employed as the chiral selector. Successful separation of tryptophan enantiomers was achieved in less than 70 s with a resolution factor of 1.35 utilizing a separation length of 32 mm. This is the first example of chiral separation based on SWNTs-BSA conjugates as stationary phase immobilized in microchip channel. The stability of the stationary phase in the channel was examined by microchip electrophoresis with laser-induced fluorescence detection. Factors that influenced the chiral separation resolution were examined. Under the optimized conditions, the proposed modified chip revealed adequate repeatability concerning run-to-run. These results show that the use of SWNTs-BSA conjugates within microfluidic channels hold great promise for a variety of analytical schemes.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Carbon / chemistry*
  • Electricity
  • Electrophoresis, Microchip / instrumentation
  • Electrophoresis, Microchip / methods*
  • Nanotechnology
  • Serum Albumin, Bovine / chemistry*
  • Stereoisomerism
  • Tryptophan / chemistry

Substances

  • Serum Albumin, Bovine
  • Carbon
  • Tryptophan