Comparison of the performance characteristics of poly(dimethylsiloxane) and Pyrex microchip electrophoresis devices for peptide separations

A comparative study of electrophoretic separations of fluorescently labeled peptides and amino acids on poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) and Pyrex microchips is presented. The separation parameters for each microchip substrate were compared, including electroosmotic flow, plate numbers, resolution, and limits of detection. The effect of buffer composition on the separation was also investigated. Acceptable separations were obtained for most peptides with both substrates; however, PDMS chips exhibited much lower separation efficiencies and longer analysis times.