Label-free biochemical detection coupled on-line to liquid chromatography

The on-line coupling of a label-free optical biosensor to a HPLC system is described by combining the separation power of HPLC with the specificity of the biosensor system. A highly cross-reactive antibody against the pesticide isoproturon was used as model for affinity proteins, The binding strength of the antibody to the utilized pesticides was characterized with the biosensor, first. In the on-line coupling setup, the eluate of the HPLC was mixed continuously with the antibodies. The presence of antigens was detected by a reduction of the antibody binding to the transducer. This reduced binding was quantified by a differentiation of the sensor signal by applying a Savitzky-Golay algorithm. Limits of detection were found to be in the femtomole range without preconcentration, which is comparable to a study using fluorescence-based biochemical detection.