Use of gemini surfactants as semipermanent capillary coatings in aqueous-organic solvents for capillary electrophoretic separation of inorganic anions

This paper proposes a new method for CE separation of inorganic anions based on the use of gemini surfactants as capillary coatings in mixed aqueous-organic solvents. The semipermanent gemini surfactant coatings were facilely prepared by rinsing the capillary with 18-s-18 solutions; they can keep be stable during the electrophoretic runs without surfactants in buffer. The coatings showed a good tolerance of methanol (MeOH) or ACN, e.g. at pH 8.0 and with 40% v/v MeOH or ACN, the EOF magnitude after 60 min of continuous electrokinetic rinsing only decreased by 2.9 or 6.0%, respectively. The coatings were successfully applied to the separation of inorganic anions. Adding organic solvents in buffer can effectively improve the resolution and efficiencies; however, it remarkably prolonged the analysis time due to the suppression of EOF. Interestingly, varying the spacer length of the gemini surfactants can also modulate (improve) the resolution but without any sacrifice of analysis time. This benefit was resulted from the unique chemical structures of gemini surfactants because it introduced a new variable, i.e. the spacer length, to the separation mechanism.