USE OF ZWITTERIONIC DETERGENTS FOR THE SEPARATION OF CLOSELY-RELATED PEPTIDES BY CAPILLARY ELECTROPHORESIS

Capillary electrophoresis incorporating hydrophobic selectivity is shown to be a powerful technique for separating closely related peptide species. In this work, hydrophobic interaction was induced through the addition of suitable amounts of a zwitterionic detergent (N-dodecyl-N,N-dimethyl-3-ammonio-1-propanesulfonate) and further modified with organic solvents. A neutral, hydrophilic-coated capillary was used to minimize electroosmotic flow. Two test solutes, Met(15)- and Leu(15)-gastrin, were employed to probe hydrophobic selectivity with various electrophoretic conditions. The nature and concentration of the detergent and the organic modifier were varied to adjust the selectivity. Operation near the critical micelle concentration of the zwitterionic detergent in the presence of acetonitrile or various alcohols produced the highest hydrophobic selectivity among the conditions studied. The zwitterionic detergent approach was also briefly compared to the use of non-ionic detergents for hydrophobic selectivity.