Use of a polybrene capillary coating in capillary electrophoresis for rapid analysis of hemoglobin variants with on-line detection via an ion trap storage/reflectron time-of-flight mass spectrometer.

A polybrene capillary coating in capillary electrophoresis (CE) has been used for rapid analysis of hemoglobin variant digests. The use of the polybrene capillary coating has allowed sufficient separation to resolve the large number of digest products formed upon tryptic digestion of the whole protein, so that prior separation of the hemoglobin alpha and beta chains is not required. The resolution of the digest peaks obtained by CE is sufficient so that even single amino acid substitutions can easily be detected using UV absorption detection. The digest is further analyzed by capillary electrophoresis separation with on-line detection using electrospray ionization interfaced to the ion trap storage/reflectron time of flight device (CE/ESI-IT/reTOF), where a comparison of the total ion electropherograms and mass spectra of the mutant and normal hemoglobins can detect the presence of a mutation site. The CE separation and mass analysis can be accomplished in typically 10-15 min. The unique capability of the CE/ESI-IT/reTOF system for detection of fast separations with narrow peaks that may be under 1 s fwhm is demonstrated. The speed of this system is essential for resolution of the large number of peaks that are separated in a short time duration using CE separations.