Tetraethylammonium tetrafluoroborate: a novel electrolyte with a unique role in the capillary electrophoretic separation of polyphenols found in grape seed extracts.

A capillary electrophoretic method for resolving phenolic compounds found in grape seed extracts was developed using a quaternary ammonium salt as the main electrolyte solution. Seven polyphenols were separated and identified. The separation mechanism seems to involve association between quaternary ammonium cations and the polyphenols. Migration times roughly correlate with the size of the known phenols. The role of the alkyl substituents on the quaternary ammonium ions was investigated and is discussed. The method of analysis proposed herein exhibits high reproducibility in terms of migration times for a complex mixture using a single component background electrolyte.