Large-volume sample stacking of selected drugs of forensic significance by capillary electrophoresis

Large-volume sample stacking capillary electrophoresis (LVSS-CE) and conventional capillary electrophoresis (CE) are compared for the separation of drugs of significance to forensic and clinical analyses. LVSS-CE for cations requires the use of an electroosmotic flow (EOF) modifier in conjunction with polarity switching to effect on-column concentration of an analyte and its subsequent migration in the capillary. The run buffer consists of 0.05 mol dm(-3) disodium tetraborate adjusted to pH 2.2 with orthophosphoric acid, and the EOF modifier is 0.002 mol dm(-3) cetyltrimethylammonium bromide. CE investigations used an identical run buffer minus the EOF modifier. LVSS-CE and CE investigations used injection times of 30 s and 3 s, respectively. Both modes of capillary electrophoresis are compared in terms of their limits of detection, efficiency, resolution and reproducibility. LVSS-CE is also applied to the analysis of a spiked urine sample.