On-line sample preconcentration in micellar electrokinetic chromatography using ion-pair reagents.

To improve the detection sensitivity of some aromatic carboxylic acids and naphthalenesulfonic acids, the use of ion-pair reagents was examined in sweeping micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC) with an anionic sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) micelle. Tetraalkylammonium (TAA) salts were used as ion-pair reagents to improve the sweeping efficiency. The effects of the alkyl chain length of the TAA groups and the TAA salt concentration on sweeping were examined. Under optimized conditions, about 400-fold enhancement in detection sensitivity was obtained in terms of peak heights by addition of ion-pair reagents in sweeping MEKC. This value was about 10 times greater than that obtainable by the SDS micelle used alone.