Development of an electric charge-tunable micro-column for capillary liquid chromatography

An electric charge-tunable micro-column (CTMC) was developed as a precolumn for reversed-phase capillary chromatography using conductive carbon fibers as the stationary phase. The carbon fibers, which constitute one electrode, are packed into a heat-shrinkable tube, which is attached to a stainless-steel column body. The mobile phase flows into CTMC through a stainless-steel tube that acts as a counter electrode. The retention times for hydrophobic and ionic compounds are controlled by the applied potential. The characteristics, such as the electrolysis efficiency and shift in retention factor, were evaluated. As a case study, estrogens in spiked beef were analyzed by capillary chromatography. With no applied potential, the resolution between the unknown peak and estriol and the recoveries of estriol were 0.81 and 65.5%, respectively. These values improved to 1.2 and 78.8%, respectively, upon applying +500 mV. These results indicate that a high-resolution capillary chromatography system can be achieved with CTMC.