Determination of inorganic anions in human saliva by zwitterionic micellarcapillary electrophoresis

Capillary electrophoresis (CE) using sulfobetaine-type zwitterionic micelle s as the background electrolyte (BGE) has been used to determine inorganic anions in human saliva. The zwitterionic micelles resulted in unique migrat ion behavior for the separation of inorganic anions. They also prevented ad sorption of proteins on the inner wall of the capillary. These properties o f the zwitterionic micelles enabled the direct determination of inorganic a nions in human saliva. Three species of inorganic anions, NO2-, NO3-, and S CN-, were found in real samples and the analysis was achieved within 3 min. Direct UV-absorption was used as the detection method and the detection li mits for these anions were 2.0, 1.0, and 5.0 mu mol L-1, respectively (0.09 , 0.06, and 0.30 mug mL(-1)).