In analogy to pressure-driven gradient techniques in high-performance liquid chromatography, a system has been
developed for delivering electroosmotically driven solvent
gradients for capillary electrochromatography (CEC).
Dynamic gradients with submicroliter per minute flow
rates are generated by merging two electroosmotic flows
that are regulated by computer-controlled voltages.
These
flows are delivered by two fused-silica capillary arms
attached to a T-connector, where they mix and then flow
into a capillary column that has been electrokinetically
packed with 3-μm reversed-phase particles. The inlet
of
one capillary arm is placed in a solution reservoir
containing one mobile phase, and the inlet of the other is placed
in a second reservoir containing a second mobile phase.
Two independent computer-controlled, programmable,
high-voltage power supplies (0−50 kV)one providing an
increasing ramp and the other providing a decreasing
rampare used to apply variable high-voltage potentials
to the mobile phase reservoirs to regulate the electroosmotic flow in each arm. The ratio of the
electroosmotic
flow rates between the two arms is changed with time
according to the computer-controlled voltages to deliver
the required gradient profile to the separation column.
Experiments were performed to confirm the composition
of the mobile phase during a gradient run and to determine the change of the composition in response to the
programmed voltage profile. To demonstrate the performance of electroosmotically driven gradient elution in
CEC, a mixture of 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
was separated in less than 90 min. This gradient technique is expected to be well-suited for generating not only
solvent gradients in CEC but also other types of
gradients,
such as pH and ionic strength gradients, in capillary
electrokinetic separations and analyses.