Electrophoretically mediated microanalysis of calcium.

Electrophoretically mediated microanalysis (EMMA) was used for the determination of calcium. The faster analyte zone containing the calcium was injected spatially behind a slower zone of o-cresolphthalein complexone in a capillary electrophoresis based system. Upon application of the electric field the calcium zone was electrophoretically mixed with the reagent and product was formed. The bulk electroosmotic flow carried the product to the detector where the absorbance of the resulting complex at 575 nm was measured. Quantitation using an internal standard yielded a linear response with an R.S.D. of 8.1%. An inter-method comparison was performed with the standard bulk method and yielded results that did not significantly differ. The advantages of EMMA with respect to traditional methods were addressed.