COMPARISON OF HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHY WITH CAPILLARY GEL-ELECTROPHORESIS IN SINGLE-BASE RESOLUTION OF POLYNUCLEOTIDES

High-resolution separations of polynucleotides were performed using capillary gel electrophoresis (cGE) and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with reversed-phase, ion-exchange and mixed-mode columns. Electropherograms showing cGE separations of single-stranded homopolynucleotides were presented and compared with HPLC separations according to the chain length of the polynucleotides. The resolving power of cGE is much higher than that of any HPLC mode. The chain length limits for complete separation within 60 min by cGE, reversed-phase, ion-exchange and mixed-mode HPLC are ca. 250, 30, 40 and 40 nucleotides, respectively, The plate number which is achieved for cGE of 3 . 10(6) - 7 . 10(6) plates/m is about ten times larger than those of all HPLC modes of 4 . 10(4)-8 . 10(5) plates/m. The reproducibility of the migration time in cGE (2-4%) is comparable to those of retention times in HPLC in several separation modes (1-3%).