Separation and migration behavior of positional and structural naphthalenesulfonate isomers by cyclodextrin-mediated capillary electrophoresis

The effects of the type of buffer system, buffer pH, the polarity of electrode, and both the type and the concentration of cyclodextrins (CDs) on the separation and migration behavior of seven positional and structural naphthalenesulfonate isomers in CD-mediated capillary electrophoresis were systematically investigated. The most effective separation conditions were to use 20 mM phosphate buffer with β-CD at pH 3.0, while the polarity of the electrodes were reversed across the capillary. Under such conditions, these isomers can be separated in 10 min. The results also indicate that the interactions of naphthalenesulfonate derivatives with CDs are strongly affected by the position of the substituent(s) on the aromatic ring. The inclusion complex formation constants of these compounds were evaluated to improve our understanding of the interaction between the naphthalenesulfonate derivatives and CDs. Moreover, the formation constants of naphthalene-2-sulfonate to β-CD agreed closely with the data in the literature obtained by a spectrophotometric method and by CE methods in various pH buffers.