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Development of a temperature gradient focusing method for in situ extraterrestrial biomarker analysis
Author(s) -
Danger Grégoire,
Ross David
Publication year - 2008
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.200700778
Subject(s) - analyte , enantiomer , chromatography , chemistry , resolution (logic) , analytical chemistry (journal) , amino acid , capillary action , in situ , atmospheric temperature range , materials science , stereochemistry , organic chemistry , biochemistry , physics , artificial intelligence , meteorology , computer science , composite material
Scanning temperature gradient focusing (TGF) is a recently described technique for the simultaneous concentration and separation of charged analytes. It allows for high analyte peak capacities and low LODs in microcolumn electrophoretic separations. In this paper, we present the application of scanning TGF for chiral separations of amino acids. Using a mixture of seven carboxyfluorescein succinimidyl ester‐labeled amino acids (including five chiral amino acids) which constitute the Mars7 standard, we show that scanning TGF is a very simple and efficient method for chiral separations. The modulation of TGF separation parameters (temperature window, pressure scan rate, temperature range, and chiral selector concentration) allows optimization of peak efficiencies and analyte resolutions. The use of hydroxypropyl‐β‐CD at low concentration (1–5 mmol/L) as a chiral selector, with an appropriate pressure scan rate ( −0.25 Pa/s) and with a low temperature range (3–25°C over 1 cm) provided high resolution between enantiomers ( R s >1.5 for each pair of enantiomers) using a short, 4 cm long capillary. With these new results, the scanning TGF method appears to be a viable method for in situ trace biomarker analysis for future missions to Mars or other solar system bodies.