Effect of polyamines on the separation of ovalbumin glycoforms by capillary electrophoresis

The successful separation of ovalbumin (M(r) 45,000; pI 4.7) glycoforms by capillary electrophoresis in an uncoated fused-silica capillary with different buffer additives is reported. The optimum conditions for obtaining the resolution of glycoforms were 25 mM borate (pH 9.0) containing 0.87 mM spermidine or 0.14 mM spermine. The effects of different concentrations of putrescine, cadaverine, spermidine, spermine and some monoamines or diamines are compared in terms of selectivity factors of ovalbumin peaks. Addition of sodium dodecyl sulfate at a concentration below the critical micelle concentration increased the resolution between the three main peaks of ovalbumin but did not permit their microheterogeneity to be expressed.