Integration of capillary electrophoresis with gold nanoparticle-based colorimetry

A method integrating capillary electrophoresis (CE) and gold nanoparticle aggregation-based colorimetry (AuNP-ABC) was described. By using a dual-sheath interface, the running buffer was isolated from the colorimetric reaction solution so that CE and AuNP-ABC would not interfere with each other. The proof-of-concept was validated by assay of polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimers that were fortified in human urine samples. The factors influencing the CE-AuNP-ABC performances were investigated and optimized. Under the optimal conditions, the dendrimers were separated within 8 min, with detection limits of 0.5, 1.2 and 2.6 μg mL^-1 for PAMAM G1.0, G2.0 and G3.0, respectively. The sensitivity of CE-AuNP-ABC was comparable to or even better than those of liquid chromatography-fluorimetry and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. The results suggested that the proposed strategy can be applied to facile and quick determination of analytes of similar properties in complex matrices.