A novel nanospray capillary zone electrophoresis mass spectrometry interface

The high resolution of capillary zone electrophoresis/mass spectrometry (CZ E/MS) offers a promising technique to characterize biomolecules in pharmace utical and biotechnology industries. A novel capillary zone electrophoresis /electrospray ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (CZE/ESI-TOF MS) interface was designed in this study to successfully integrate ESI-TOFMS, n anospray, and CZE for biomolecular identification. The interface offers a n ovel way to take advantage of the high resolution separation achieved durin g CZE and the detection sensitivity of nanospray ESI-MS. The results showed mixtures of peptides were highly resolved within a few minutes (each CZE e lectropherogram of a peptide is 2-3 seconds). The novel CZE/ESI-TOFMS inter face may simultaneously provide sensitivity, data acquisition speed, mass r ange, and mass resolution while maintaining resolution of the CZE separatio n. Copyright (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.