Characterization of discontinuous buffer junctions using pH indicators in capillary electrophoresis for protein preconcentration.

An effective sample preconcentration technique for proteins and peptides was recently developed using capillary electrophoresis (CE) with discontinuous buffers [C.A. Nesbitt, J.T.-M. Lo, K.K.-C. Yeung, J. Chromatogr. A 1073 (2005) 175]. Two buffers of different pH created a junction to trap the sample molecules at their isoelectric points and resulted in over 1000-fold preconcentration for myoglobin within 30 min. To study the formation of pH junctions in CE, a pH indicator, bromothymol blue, is used in this work to reveal the pH changes at the discontinuous buffer boundary. Bromothymol blue (BTB) exhibits a drastic change in its visible absorption spectrum (300-600 nm) going from the acidic to basic pH conditions, and is therefore ideal for visualizing the changes in pH at the junctions created by various buffer combinations. Preconcentration of myoglobin was performed in discontinuous buffers containing BTB. Major differences in the BTB absorption profiles were identified from buffer systems that differ significantly in preconcentration performance, which in turn, allowed for the identification of ideal buffers for sample preconcentration. Up to 2000-fold preconcentrations of myoglobin were achieved in the buffer systems studied in this work. In addition, the role of the electroosmotic flow (EOF) on the preconcentration performance was investigated. A low EOF was found to be desirable, as the pH junction could stay longer in the capillary for accumulation of proteins. The pH junction also displayed characteristics to resist bandbroadening. Potential laminar flow resulted from the mismatched residual EOFs under the two pH conditions within the discontinuous buffers appeared to have minimal effect on the preconcentration. In fact, external applied pressure can be used to control the migration of the pH junction without compromising the protein preconcentration.