Gold nanomaterials based pseudostationary phases in capillary electrophoresis: a brand-new attempt at chondroitin sulfate isomers separation.

In this work, a CE method with bare gold nanorods (GNRs) based pseudostationary phase was developed and applied for the separation of chondroitin sulfate (CS) isomers, CS, and dermatan sulfate (DS). The separation efficiency was investigated by varying the experimental parameters such as concentration and pH of the BGE, separation voltage, internal diameter of capillary, different size, and morphology of gold nanomaterials. Results showed that different size and morphology of gold nanomaterials had different effects on the separation of CS and DS. The best separation of CS and DS was achieved in the BGE composed of aqueous 150 mmol/L (mM) ethylenediamine + 20 mM sodium dihydrogen phosphate + 30% v/v GNRs, pH 4.5, at the separation voltage of -10 kV. Capillary was 59.2 cm in length (effective length 49 cm), 50 μm id capillary thermostated at 25°C. CE with bare GNRs used as pseudostationary phase was shown to be a suitable technique for the separation of CS and DS mixtures with wider peaks. RSD of migration time and peak area of CS and DS were 0.13, 0.14 and 0.86, 1.07%, respectively.