An end-channel amperometric detector with a guide tube for working electrode was designed and integrated on a home-made glass microchip. The guide tube was directly patterned and fabricated at the end of the detection reservoir, which made the fixation and alignment of working electrode relatively easy. The fabrication was carried out in a two-step etching process. A 30 m carbon fiber microdisk electrode and Pt cathode were also integrated onto the amperometric detector. The characteristics and primary performance of the home-made microchip capillary electrophoresis (MCCE) were investigated with neurotransmitters. The baseline separation of dopamine (DA), catechol (CA) and epinephrine (EP) was achieved within 80 s. Separation parameters such as injection time, buffer components, pH of the buffer were studied. Relative standard deviations of not more than 6.0% were obtained for both peak currents and migration times. Under the selected separation conditions, the response for DA was linear from 5 to 200 M and from 20 to 800 M for CA. The limits of detection of DA and CA were 0.51 and 2.9 M, respectively (S/N = 3).

Baseline separation of seven paralytic shellfish toxins (PSTs), namely decarbamoylsaxitoxin (dcSTX), saxitoxin (STX), neosaxitoxin (NEO), gonyautoxin-2 (GTX-2), gonyautoxin-3 (GTX-3), gonyautoxin-1 (GTX-1), and gonyautoxin-4 (GTX-4), was achieved by using capillary ITP (CITP)/CE with UV detection. Separation parameters including duration time and voltage in CITP process, separation voltage, and pH and concentration of buffer were optimized. The developed method provided linear responses from 1.3 to 200 microM for the PSTs. The LOD ranged from 0.1 to 0.3 microM. PST extracts from two algal strains of Alexandrium tamarense were analyzed and the toxin concentrations in the samples were quantified with an internal standard method by using NEO as the internal standard. The algal extract of A. tamarense HK9301 contained 332 microM GTX-2 and 224 microM GTX-3, while the PSTs were not detected in the extract of A. tamarense CI01.

Phenol, 2,4-dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP), and 2,4,6-trichlorophenol (2,4,6-TCP) were baseline separated by using a homemade microchip CE with an end-channel amperometric detector where a 50 microm Pt microdisk working electrode (WE) and a Pt cathode were integrated onto the microchip itself. Separation parameters such as injection time and voltage, pH of the buffer, online pretreatment condition for WE, reproducibility, and detection potential were investigated. Under the selected separation conditions, the linear ranges for phenol, 2,4-DCP, and 2,4,6-TCP were 2-200, 4-400, and 4-400 microM, respectively. The LODs were 0.4, 0.5, and 0.7 microM for phenol, 2,4-DCP, and 2,4,6-TCP, respectively (S/N = 3). The standard addition method was successfully applied to the analysis of landfill leachate samples and the concentration of phenol in the landfill leachate samples was measured to be 0.32 and 0.21 mM, respectively. The recoveries were in the range of 85-103% and corresponding RSDs were less than 5.5%.