Capillary electrophoresis–inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry interface with minimised dead volume for high separation efficiency

A modified microconcentric nebulizer (MCN-100) has been used to construct an improved interface with minimised liquid and gas phase dead volumes for the coupling of capillary electrophoresis (CE) and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). A plate number of 3.6·106 plates m−1 has been achieved. This is an order of magnitude better than the results previously reported for CE–ICP-MS. The separation efficiency of the system is demonstrated by the baseline separation of eight rare earth metals within a time span of 14.6 s. The system was used to control the purity of vitamin B12 and glutaredoxin 2 from Escherichia coli.