Integration of monolithic frit into the particulate capillary (IMFPC) column in shotgun proteome analysis

Capillary column plays an important role in nano-flow liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry for dealing with the high dynamic range and complexity of protein samples in shotgun proteome analysis. In this study, the integrated monolithic frit into the particulate capillary (IMFPC) column was prepared. By comparing the prepared IMFPC column with conventionally fritless capillary column, smaller size of packing materials could be easily packed into the capillary to achieve higher average peak capacity and proteome coverage. As the monolithic emitter was integrated onto this type of column, the void volume between packing particles and electrospray emitter was eliminated and the electrospray quality was improved. The prepared IMFPC column was applied to proteome analysis of mouse liver extracts, and it was observed that the number of identified proteins and peptides increased 14.9 and 12.9% as well as the peak capacity increased 11.6% by using IMFPC column over conventionally fritless capillary column.