PEAK DISPERSION AND SEPARATION EFFICIENCY IN HIGH-PERFORMANCE ZONE ELECTROPHORESIS WITH GEL-FILLED CAPILLARIES

The Einstein-Nernst equation for the relationship between diffusion coefficient, D, and ionic mobility, u, was applied to describe the peak dispersion in zone electrophoresis with gel-filled capillaries. it follows that the effective charge number is the only analyte-specific parameter that influences the plate height or the plate number. Peak broadening is thus independent of D and u, because these parameters can be substituted by physical and instrumental constants. The plate number depends linearly on the effective charge number of the separands. Plate numbers in the range of several millions are predicted for highly charged molecules. This theoretical approach is discussed on the basis of electropherograms of oligonucleotides.