Dialkyl anionic surfactant in field-amplified sample injection and sweeping-micellar electrokinetic chromatography for determination of eight leanness-promoting ß-agonists in animal feeds.

The beta-adrenergic agonists (ß-agonists) working as repartitioning agents that make the carcass leaner and enhance the feeding efficiency in animals have been banned in the European Union, China and Taiwan. Here, traditional anionic surfactants, such as sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) were replaced with sodium di-(2-ethylhexyl)-sulfosuccinate (AOT) in field-amplified sample injection and sweeping-micellar electrokinetic chromatography (FASI-sweeping MEKC) for simultaneous analysis of eight ß-agonists in animal feeds. The AOT vesicles provided a better resolution of ß-agonists than micelles of SDS. The detection limits of the eight ß-agonists were above 5ng/mL by using this stacking capillary electrophoresis (CE) method. In comparison of traditional MEKC method (sample injection, 1psi for 5s), the stacking strategy provided 400-2000 fold sensitivity enhancement. After method validation, this method was successfully applied for analyzing four animal feeds, and none ß-agonist was detected. This strategy possessing good resolution of eight ß-agonists was suitable for serving as a tool for routine analysis of animal feeds.

Microemulsion electrokinetic chromatography for analysis of phthalates in soft drinks.

Microemulsion electrokinetic chromatography (MEEKC) is proposed for analysis of di-n-butyl phthalate (DBP) and di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) in soft drinks. However, the instability of microemulsion is a critical issue. In this research, a novel material, Pluronic® F-127, which has the properties of polymer and surfactant, was added for stabilizing the microemulsion in the MEEKC system. Our data demonstrate that the presence of Pluronic® F-127 (0.05-0.30%) also helps enhance resolution of highly hydrophobic compounds, DBP and DEHP. The electrokinetic injection of sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) including sample (-10 kV, 20 s) was introduced in this MEEKC system and this yielded about 25-fold sensitivity enhancement compared with hydrodynamic injection (1 psi, 10 s). During method validation, calibration curves were linear (r≥0.99), within a range of 75-500 ng/mL for DBP and 150-1000 ng/mL for DEHP. As the precision and accuracy assays, absolute values of relative standard deviation (RSD) and relative error (RE) in intraday (n=3) and interday (n=5) observations were less than 4.93%. This method was further applied for analyzing six commercial soft drinks and one was found containing 453.67 ng/mL of DEHP. This method is considered feasible for serving as a tool for analysis of highly hydrophobic molecules.