Co-electroosmotic capillary electrophoresis of basic proteins with 1-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ionic liquids as non-covalent coating agents of the fused-silica capillary and additives of the electrolyte solution

The paper reports the results of a study carried out to evaluate the use of three 1-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium-based ionic liquids as non-covalent coating agents for bare fused-silica capillaries and additives of the electrolyte solutions (BGE) for CE of basic proteins in the co-EOF separation mode. The three ionic liquids are differentiated from each other by the length of the alkyl group on the imidazolium cation, consisting of either an ethyl, butyl or octyl substituent, whereas tetrafluoroborate is the common anionic component of the ionic liquids. Coating the capillary with the ionic liquid resulted in improved peak shape and protein separation, while the EOF was maintained cathodic. This indicates that each ionic liquid is effective at masking the protein interaction sites on the inner surface of the capillary, also when its adsorption onto the capillary wall has not completely neutralized all the negative charges arising from the ionization of the silanol groups and the ionic liquid is not incorporated into the BGE employed for separation. Using the coated capillaries with BGE containing the ionic liquid employed for the coating, at concentration low enough to maintaining the EOF cathodic, both peak shape and protein separation varied to different extents, based on the particular ionic liquid used and its concentration. Fast and efficient separation of the model basic protein mixture in co-electroosmotic CE is obtained with the 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate coated capillary and 100 mM acetate buffer (pH 4.0) containing 4.4 mM 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate as the BGE.