Premium
Integrated on‐chip derivatization and electrophoresis for the rapid analysis of biogenic amines
Author(s) -
Beard Nigel P.,
Edel Joshua B.,
deMello Andrew J.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
electrophoresis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.666
H-Index - 158
eISSN - 1522-2683
pISSN - 0173-0835
DOI - 10.1002/elps.200305919
Subject(s) - capillary electrophoresis , derivatization , analyte , chemistry , detection limit , chromatography , fluorescein , electrophoresis , microfluidics , analytical chemistry (journal) , fluorescence , nanotechnology , materials science , high performance liquid chromatography , physics , quantum mechanics
We demonstrate the monolithic integration of a chemical reactor with a capillary electrophoresis device for the rapid and sensitive analysis of biogenic amines. Fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) is widely employed for the analysis of amino‐group containing analytes. However, the slow reaction kinetics hinders the use of this dye for on‐chip labeling applications. Other alternatives are available such as o ‐phthaldehyde (OPA), however, the inferior photophysical properties and the UV λ max present difficulties when using common excitation sources leading to a disparity in sensitivity. Consequently, we present for the first time the use of dichlorotriazine fluorescein (DTAF) as a superior in situ derivatizing agent for biogenic amines in microfluidic devices. The developed microdevice employs both hydrodynamic and electroosmotic flow, facilitating the creation of a polymeric microchip to perform both precolumn derivatization and electrophoretic analysis. The favorable photophysical properties of the DTAF and its fast reaction kinetics provide detection limits down to 1 n M and total analysis times (including on‐chip mixing and reaction) of <60 s. The detection limits are two orders of magnitude lower than current limits obtained with both FITC and OPA. The optimized microdevice is also employed to probe biogenic amines in real samples.