Column switching in zone electrophoresis on a chip

This feasibility study deals with column switching in zone electrophoresis (ZE) separations on a column coupling (CC) chip. The column switching implemented into the ZE separations an on-chip sample clean up applicable for both the multicomponent and high salinity samples. In addition, complemented by different separation mechanisms in the coupled columns (channels), it provided benefits of two-dimensional separations. Properly timed column switching gave column-to-column transfers of the analytes, characterized by 99–102% recoveries, delivered to the second separation stage on the chip the analyte containing fractions contaminated only with minimum amounts of the matrix constituents. A diffusion driven transport of the matrix constituents to the second channel of the chip (due to direct contacts of the electrolyte solutions in the bifurcation region), representing 0.1–0.2% of the loaded sample constituents, was found to accompany the sample clean up performed on the CC chip. This source of potential disturbances to the separation in the second channel, however, is not detectable in a majority of practical situations. With respect to a 900 nl volume of the sample channel on the CC chip, the electric field and isotachophoresis (ITP) stackings were employed to minimize the injection dispersion in the separations and concentrate the analytes. Here, the column switching, removing a major part of the stacker from the separation system, provided a tool effective in a control of the destacking of analytes. Highly reproducible ZE separations as attained in this work also for the chip-to-chip and equipment-to-equipment frames can be ascribed, at least in part, to suppressions of electroosmotic and hydrodynamic flows of the solutions in which the separations were performed.