Electrostatic interaction mechanism on the separation of phenols by non-aqueous capillary electropho

The electrostatic interaction between additive and analyte is of great importance to non-aqueous capillary electrophoresis (NACE) separation. Three tetraalkylammonium bromides and acetonitrile were applied as additives and running solvent respectively. The effect of alkyl chain length and concentration of additive on electrostatic interactions was investigated by the separation of phenols. The separation ability was found to increase with decreasing alkyl chain length of the additive, and the resolution values were increased with increasing additive concentration. The separation was seriously deteriorated after a little amount of water was added in the running solution. Furthermore, the electrostatic interaction is strong under the conditions of low electron cloud density, weak steric hindrance and multi-interaction sites. Thus, the separation result can be predicted by theoretical analysis, which is helpful for the separation of other substances in NACE based on electrostatic interaction.