Sensitivity enhancement for capillary zone electrophoresis-mass spectrometry: Developments and applications.

Advances in mass spectrometry (MS), i.e., electrospray ionization and tandem mass spectrometry using triple quadrupole instruments, have greatly enhanced the analysis of biopolymers, such as proteins and glycoproteins. Electrospray ionization enables the direct coupling of liquid-based separations with mass spectrometric detection. Capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) allows for high resolution separation of biomolecules, and its inherent low flow rate is ideally suited for coupling to electrospray mass spectrometry (ESMS). A major shortcoming of CZE is its high concentration detection limits relative to liquid chromatography. This thesis presents two approaches for the improvement of the sensitivity of CZE. These improved methods are applied to the characterization of proteins and glycoproteins by CZE-ESMS.