Monolithic Integration of Two-Dimensional Liquid Chromatography−Capillary Electrophoresis and Electrospray Ionization on a Microfluidic Device

Abstract

A microfluidic device capable of two-dimensional reversed-phase liquid chromatography−capillary electrophoresis with integrated electrospray ionization (LC-CE-ESI) for mass spectrometry (MS) -based proteomic applications is described. Traditional instrumentation was used for the LC sample injection and delivery of the LC mobile phase. The glass microfabricated device incorporated a sample-trapping region and an LC channel packed with reversed-phase particles. Rapid electrokinetic injections of the LC effluent into the CE dimension were performed at a cross-channel intersection. The CE separation channel terminated at a corner of the square device, which functioned as an integrated electrospray tip. In addition to LC-CE-ESI, this device was used for LC-ESI without any instrumental modifications. To evaluate the system, LC-MS and LC-CE-MS analyses of protein digests were performed and compared.