USE OF A SHEATH FLOW CUVETTE FOR CHEMILUMINESCENCE DETECTION OF ISOLUMINOL THIOCARBAMYL-AMINO ACIDS SEPARATED BY CAPILLARY ELECTROPHORESIS

A post-column reactor was designed for chemiluminescence detection in the capillary electrophoresis separation of isoluminol thiocarbamyl de rivatives of amino acids. This system was characterized with respect t o hydrogen peroxide concentration and flow rate, surfactant concentrat ion, microperoxidase concentration, and mixing distance. A linear cali bration curve (R > 0.999) was constructed for isoluminol ranging from at least 30 femtomoles to the detection limit of 40 attomoles injected ; the dynamic range of the instrument is at least three orders of magn itude. Detection limit for the isoluminol thiocarbamyl derivative of v aline was 500 attomoles. The theoretical plate counts for the raw data are typically 1 x 10(5) for labeled amino acids, and a factor of two better for isoluminol.