From micro to macro: Conversion of capillary electrophoretic separations of biomolecules and bioparticles to preparative free‐flow electrophoresis scale

Abstract

This invited contribution in the special issue of Electrophoresis published in celebration of the 30th Anniversary of this journal reflects the impact of our milestone paper [Prusík, Z., Kasicka, V., Mudra, P., Stepánek, J., Smékal, O., Hlavácek, J., Electrophoresis 1990, 11, 932-936] in the area of conversion of microscale analytical and micropreparative CE separations of biomolecules and bioparticles into (macro)preparative free-flow electrophoresis (FFE) scale on the basis of a correlation between CE and FFE methods. In addition to the survey of advances in the relatively narrow field of CE-FFE correlation and CE-FFE conversion, a comprehensive review of the recent developments of micropreparative CE and (macro)preparative FFE techniques is also presented and applications of these techniques to micro- and (macro)preparative separations and purifications of biomolecules and bioparticles are demonstrated. The review covers the period since the year of publication of the above paper, i.e. ca. the last 20 years.

Reassemblable quasi‐chip free‐flow electrophoresis with simple heating dispersion for rapid micropreparation of trypsin in crude porcine pancreatin

“…Chip FFE (C-FFE) has been given great attention in the field of separation science in the last two decades [13][14][15][16]. In 1994, Raymond et al [23] developed the first C-FFE device for bioseparation.…”

“…FFE has the following merits [13][14][15][16]: (i) good preservation of biological activity due to mild aqueous circumstance, (ii) continuous sample preparation, (iii) high recovery, and (iv) low cost (except for free-flow IEF). These merits bequeath FFE with widespread potential application to bioseparation [13][14][15][16]. For example, Lanz et al [17] and Gratz et al [18] carried out the enantiomeric separation via LS-FFE.…”

“…In free-flow electrophoresis (FFE), an electric field is applied perpendicularly to the flow to deflect charged analytes laterally into distinct streams based on their electrophoretic mobility. Four kinds of FFE techniques have been developed for bioseparation, including free-flow zone electrophoresis (FFZE), free-flow ITP (FFITP), free-flow IEF (FFIEF), and free-flow field step electrophoresis (FFFSE) [13][14][15][16]. FFE has the following merits [13][14][15][16]: (i) good preservation of biological activity due to mild aqueous circumstance, (ii) continuous sample preparation, (iii) high recovery, and (iv) low cost (except for free-flow IEF).…”

“…Four kinds of FFE techniques have been developed for bioseparation, including free-flow zone electrophoresis (FFZE), free-flow ITP (FFITP), free-flow IEF (FFIEF), and free-flow field step electrophoresis (FFFSE) [13][14][15][16]. FFE has the following merits [13][14][15][16]: (i) good preservation of biological activity due to mild aqueous circumstance, (ii) continuous sample preparation, (iii) high recovery, and (iv) low cost (except for free-flow IEF). These merits bequeath FFE with widespread potential application to bioseparation [13][14][15][16].…”

Milli‐free flow electrophoresis: I. Fast prototyping of mFFE devices

“…FFE continues to develop in both fundamentals and applications [28][29][30][31][32]. Our work will reinforce the area with a tool for fast prototyping of mFFE devices.…”