Phosphate buffers in capillary electrophoresis/mass spectrometry using atmospheric pressure photoionization and electrospray ionization

S L Nilsson; C Andersson; P J R Sjöberg; D Bylund; P Petersson; M Jörntén-Karlsson; K E Markides

doi:10.1002/rcm.1182

Phosphate buffers in capillary electrophoresis/mass spectrometry using atmospheric pressure photoionization and electrospray ionization

Rapid Commun Mass Spectrom. 2003;17(20):2267-72. doi: 10.1002/rcm.1182.

Authors

S L Nilsson¹, C Andersson, P J R Sjöberg, D Bylund, P Petersson, M Jörntén-Karlsson, K E Markides

Affiliation

¹ Department of Analytical Chemistry, Uppsala University, P.O. Box 599, SE-751 24 Uppsala, Sweden.

PMID: 14558124
DOI: 10.1002/rcm.1182

Abstract

Capillary electrophoresis (CE) has been combined with atmospheric pressure photoionization (APPI) and electrospray ionization (ESI) for mass spectrometric (MS) detection. Separation conditions using potassium phosphate buffer and ammonium formate buffer have been compared for analysis of eleven pharmaceutical bases. The results showed improvements in separation efficiency and peak symmetry when phosphate buffer was used. The low flow in CE may enable utilization of these advances with MS detection. Compared with ESI, the APPI technique provided a cluster-free background. The enhanced signal-to-noise ratio in the total ion current (TIC) and the reduced spectral background indicated that the APPI process is less affected by non-volatile salts in the CE buffers. This results in a wider range of choice of CE buffers in CE/MS analysis when APPI is the ionization method.