Microfluidic Array Liquid Chromatography: A Proof of Principle Study

In this study, a microfluidic chip-based array liquid chromatographic platform enabling multicolumn separation and detection was developed. The platform is based on the combination of glass, poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) chips and up to 8 packed chromatographic channels were manufactured on such a microfluidic device. Pressurization experiments showed that the array chip could be reliably used under pressure-driven liquid chromatographic mode. A nanoflow of 300 nL min–1 per column was realized through multi-stage flow splitting. We investigated the feasibility and effectiveness of 8 column array chip and obtained a high efficiency of 80000 plates per meter and a RSD of 1.1% for the retention time. Using a protein digest as the sample, we also explored the potential applicability of the chip in high throughput separation of complex biomolecules.Graphical AbstractBased on a glass-PMMA-PDMS composite chip, we developed a microfluidic array liquid chromatography system. The 8-lane LC chip's feasibility and effectiveness was evaluated and a high efficiency of 80000 plates/m was obtained. Using a protein digest as the sample, the microfluidic platform's applicability in high throughput analysis was also explored.
Source: Chinese Journal of Analytical Chemistry - Category: Chemistry Source Type: research