Capillary electrochromatography-mass spectrometry of zwitterionic surfactants

This work describes the on-line hyphenation of a packed capillary electrochromatography (CEC) column with an internally tapered tip coupled to electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) and atmospheric pressure chemical ionization-mass spectrometry (APCI-MS) for the analysis of betaine-type amphoteric or zwitterionic surfactants (Zwittergent). A systematic investigation of the CEC separation and MS detection parameters comparing ESI and APCI is shown. First, a detailed and optimized manufacturing procedure for fabrication of the CEC-MS column with a reproducible internally tapered tip (7-9 microm) is presented. Next, the optimization of the separation parameters by varying the C(18) stationary-phase particle size (3 versus 1.5 microm), as well as mobile-phase composition including acetonitrile (ACN) volume fraction, ionic strength, and pH is described. The optimized separation is achieved using 3-microm C(18) packing with 75% ACN (v/v), 5 mM Tris at pH 8.0. Optimization for on-line CEC-ESI-MS detection is then done varying both the sheath liquid and spray chamber parameters while evaluating the use of random versus structured factorial table experimental designs. The more structured approach allows fundamental analysis of individual ESI-MS parameters while minimizing CEC and MS equilibration time between settings. A comparison of CEC-ESI-MS to CEC-APCI-MS using similar sheath and spray chamber conditions presents new insight for coupling of CEC to APCI-MS. The sheath liquid flow rate required to maintain adequate sensitivity is much higher in APCI source (50 microL/min) as compared to the ESI source (3 microL/min). The on-line mass spectra obtained in the full scan mode show that fragmentation in the two sources occurs at different positions on the Zwittergent molecules. For ESI-MS, the protonated molecular ion is always highest in abundance with minor fragmentation occurring due to the loss of the alkyl chain. In contrast, the APCI-MS spectra show that the highest abundant ion resulted by elimination of propane sulfonate from the Zwittergent molecule. A comparison of the sensitivity between the two sources in positive ionization SIM mode shows that CEC-ESI-MS provides an impressive limit of detection (LOD) of 5 ng/mL, which is at least 3 orders of magnitude lower than CEC-APCI-MS (LOD 100 microg/mL). Finally, the optimized CEC-MS methods comparing ESI and APCI are applied for separation and structural characterization of a real industrial zwittergent sample, Rewoteric AM CAS.