A novel sample preconcentration method based on borate complexation with catecholamines was developed on the platform of flow-gated capillary electrophoresis.
The sample mixture contained borate while the separation buffer was void of borate.
A novel focusing mechanism for fluorescent catecholamine derivatives was proposed and experimentally studied.
Over 100-fold signal enhancement and pico-molar detection limits for dopamine and norepinephrine were achieved with the developed method.
The developed method was applied to the measurement of dopamine in cerebrospinal fluid.