A liquid-junction/low-flow interface for sensitivity improvement in micelle electrokinetic chromatography–electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry

A liquid-junction/low-flow interface was used to alleviate ion suppression caused by nonvolatile surfactants in micelle electrokinetic chromatography–electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry. Ion suppression due to micelles was alleviated by adjusting operating conditions to keep micelles from entering the ESI source. Two operation modes were investigated. In the first configuration, micelles migrated in the direction opposite to the analytes of interest. A second mode of operation was configured to retain micelles in the liquid-junction between the CE separation column and the ESI interface. In either case, the micelles did not enter the ESI source. To reduce the adverse effect caused by sodium ions, sodium dodecyl sulfate was replaced with the ammonium dodecyl sulfate. Importantly, despite actions taken to alleviate ion suppression, the separation efficiency was preserved as a result of the liquid-junction/low-flow interface. The utility of the described approach for micelle electrokinetic chromatography–electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry was demonstrated by the analysis of sulfonamides at pH 5.5 and pH 7.8, each selected to highlight the two mode of operation.