On-column sample enrichment for the high-sensitivity sheath-flow CE-MS analysis of peptides.
A sample enrichment technique to increase sensitivity in capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry (CE-MS) is described. Peptides or glycopeptides are retained and concentrated on a short (3-5-mm) reversed-phase (C18) packed-bed situated in the fused-silica separation capillary and are subsequently released for electrophoretic separation by injection of an organic elutant. The concentration limits of detection are in the high picomolar range with a sheath-flow CE-MS interface.