OPTIMIZATION STRATEGIES IN MICELLAR ELECTROKINETIC CAPILLARY CHROMATOGRAPHY - OPTIMIZATION OF THE TEMPERATURE OF THE SEPARATION CAPILLARY

The influence of the temperature of the capillary on the separation of small molecules by micellar electrokinetic chromatography with buffers containing sodium dodecyl sulfate was examined. Investigated parameters were the electroosmotic velocity, the migration velocity of the micelles, the strength of the electric current, retention factors and plate numbers. Thermodynamic parameters associated with micelle solubilization were evaluated from the variation of the retention factor with temperature. An investigation was carried out as to whether the dependence of the electroosmotic velocity and the migration velocity of the micelles are mainly due to the decrease in viscosity and dielectric constant with increase in temperature. The temperature of the capillary strongly affects the plate numbers for various solutes obtained with the same chromatographic system. In order to exclude secondary effects by alteration of the instrumental band broadening and the electroosmotic velocity with temperature, a method is presented that permits the development of chromatograms in MEKC at various temperatures with constant injected plug length and constant electroosmotic velocity. The results are discussed from the point of view of minimizing the analysis time and optimizing the resolution.