Microdialysis coupled with droplet microfluidics and mass spectrometry for determination of neurotransmitters with high temporal resolution.

Monitoring the concentration fluctuations of neurotransmitters is valuable for elucidating the chemical signals that underlie brain functions. Microdialysis sampling is a widely used tool for monitoring neurochemicals . The volume requirements of most techniques that have been coupled to microdialysis, such as HPLC, result in fraction collection times of minutes, thus limiting the temporal resolution possible.

Continuous and automated slug flow nanoextraction for rapid partition coefficient measurement.

Octanol-water partition coefficients (log ) are widely used in pharmaceutical and environmental chemistry to assess the lipophilicity of compounds. Traditionally log  is determined using a shake-flask method that uses milliliters of sample and solvent and requires hours for preparation, extraction, and analysis. Here, we report an automated system for rapid log  determination for an array of compounds using slug flow nanoextraction (SFNE) enabled by a microfluidic chip.

High-Throughput Liquid-Liquid Extractions with Nanoliter Volumes.

Current methods for liquid-liquid extractions generally require microliter to milliliter volumes of solvents and sample, long equilibration times, and manual procedures. Extraction methods for samples in microfluidic systems have been limited as this tool is difficult to implement on the nanoliter or smaller scale. We have developed slug-flow nanoextraction (SFNE), a method based on droplet microfluidics that allows multiple liquid-liquid extractions to be performed simultaneously in a capillary tube, using only 5 nL of sample and extraction solvent per extraction.

CE-MS with electrokinetic supercharging and application to determination of neurotransmitters.

Electrokinetic supercharging (EKS) is known as one of the most effective online electrophoretic preconcentration techniques, though pairing with it with mass spectrometry has presented challenges. Here, EKS is successfully paired with ESI-MS/MS to provide a sensitive and robust method for analysis of biogenic amines in biological samples. Injection parameters including electric field strength and the buffer compositions used for the separation and focusing were investigated to achieve suitable resolution, high sensitivity, and compatibility with ESI-MS.

Metal cation control of electroosmotic flow magnitude in phospholipid-coated capillaries.

CZE has become widespread for the separation and analysis of biomolecules such as proteins and peptides, due to factors such as, the speed of the separations, low sample volume, and high resolution associated with the technique. However, the separation of biomolecules by CZE does present a significant challenge due to the electrostatic attraction and adsorption of cationic, or cation containing, biomolecules to the capillary surface. To that end numerous methods have been developed to passivate, or protect the surface, in order to prevent the adsorption of analytes.