High-speed separation and detection of amino acids in laver using a short capillary electrophoresis system

A high-speed separation method of capillary MEKC with LIF detection had been developed for separation and determination of amino acids in laver. The CE system comprised a manual slotted-vial array (SVA) for sample introduction that could improve the separation efficiency by reducing injection volume. Using a capillary with 80 mm effective separation length, the separation conditions for amino acids were optimized. Applied with the separation electric field strength of 300 V/cm, the ten amino acids could be completely separated within 2.5 min with 10 mol/L Na2HPO4-NaOH buffer (pH = 11.5) including 30 mmol/L SDS. Theoretical plates for amino acids ranged from 72,000 to 40,000 (corresponding to 1.1-2.0 μm plate heights) and the detection limits were between 25 and 80 nmol/L. Finally, this method was applied to analyze the composition of amino acids in laver and eight known amino acids could be found in the sample. The contents of five amino acids, tyrosine, glutamic acid, glycine, lysine, and aspartic acid that could be completely separated in real sample were determined. The recoveries ranged from 82.3% to 123% that indicated the good reliability for this method in laver sample analysis.