Abstract:

The objective of our study is to explore the potential of poly(amidoamine)(PAMAM) dendrimers as a bonded stationary phase in open tubular capillary electrochromatography(CEC). 1G, 2G and 3G poly(amidoamine)(PAMAM) dendrimers were bonded to the interior wall of silica capillaries through a 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane linker step by step. The obtained columns were characterized by CEC process. The results show that the electroosmotic flow(EOF) gradually reduced with increasing PAMAM generation. The performances of the column were evaluated by the separation of alanine and praline. The results indicate that the resolution of alanine(Ala) and proline(Pro) was gradually improved with increasing the amount of PAMAM generation. By open-tubular capillary electrochromatography column modified with the 3rd  generation PAMAM, the baseline separation of the alanine and proline can be obtained. Five underivatized amino acids, arginine(Arg), alanine(Ala), proline(Pro), histidine(His) and methionine(Met), were successfully separated by OCEC modified with 3G PAMAM and by using UV detection at 200 nm. The reproducibility and stability of the column were satisfactory.

Key words: Dendrimer macromolecule; Poly(amidoamine)(PAMAM); Open-tubular capillary electrochromatography column; Bonded stationary phase