The ability of denaturing ion-paired reversed phase LC to separate RNA was assessed using macro-porous polystyrene-divinylbenzene resins as the stationary phase. Using the three stationary phases with different pore size and a mobile phase containing phosphate, we separated RNAs of 20-8000 nucleotides with extremely high sensitivity, e.g., 50pg for an RNA 20 nucleotides in length, S/N=5. The method was used to separate non-coding RNAs obtained from biological sources and is suited for use with direct MS-based chemical characterization.
Keywords: Denaturing reversed phase high-performance liquid chromatography; Macro-porous polystyrene-divinylbenzene resin; Mass spectrometry; RNA.
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