On-line concentration and pressurized capillary electrochromatographic analysis of phytolhormones in corn

A pressurized CEC (pCEC) method was developed for the separation of phytohormones, in which UV absorbance was used as the detector and a monolithic silica-ODS column as the separation column. The parameters (including the concentration of organic solvent in the mobile phase, pH of the electrolyte buffer, applied voltage) affecting the separation resolution were evaluated. Two on-line concentration techniques, namely, solvent gradient zone sharpening effect and field-enhanced sample stacking, were utilized to improve detection sensitivity. The combination of the two techniques proved to be beneficial to enhance the detection sensitivity by enabling the injection of large volumes of samples. Compared to the conventional injection mode, the enhancement in the detection sensitivities of phytohormones using the on-line concentration technique is in the range from 9- to 23-fold. The developed pCEC method was applied to evaluate phytohormones in corns.