Nonaqueous electrophoresis on microchips: A review

Area of Science:

• Analytical Chemistry
• Separation Science
• Microfluidics

Background:

• Organic solvents are crucial for electrophoretic analysis of poorly water-soluble compounds.
• Nonaqueous electrophoresis (NAE) is established in capillary systems but less adopted in chip-based platforms.
• Challenges in chip-based NAE include solvent effects on injection, detection, and platform compatibility.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review achievements in nonaqueous microchip electrophoresis (NAME).
• To provide the first dedicated review of nonaqueous electrophoresis on chip-based systems.
• To discuss theoretical aspects, challenges, and applications of NAME.

Main Methods:

• Review of existing literature on nonaqueous microchip electrophoresis.
• Discussion of theoretical principles of electrophoresis in organic media.
• Analysis of factors influencing sample injection, detection, and chip materials.

Main Results:

• Nonaqueous microchip electrophoresis (NAME) presents significant potential for diverse analytical applications.
• Key theoretical aspects like equilibrium, interactions, and electrophoretic considerations in organic media are detailed.
• Influences of nonaqueous media on critical parameters and substrate selection for microfluidic devices are highlighted.

Conclusions:

• Nonaqueous microchip electrophoresis (NAME) offers a promising alternative for analyzing challenging samples on microfluidic platforms.
• Addressing challenges related to solvent effects is key to expanding NAME applications.
• This review aims to promote the understanding and utilization of NAME's potential.