Preparation and Evaluation of Zwitterionic Polymer Coated Capillary Columns for Analysis of Proteins by Capillary Electrophoresis

The ability to manipulate and control the inner surface properties of silica capillary is of crucial importance for analysis of proteins by capillary electrophoresis. In this work, surface-initiated atom transfers radical polymerization (ATRP) of zwitterionic 3-dimethyl(methacryloyloxyethyl) ammonium propane sulfonate (DMAPS) is employed to tailor the functionality of silica capillary in a well-controlled manner. The structure of the coating and the protein separation performance were investigated. The results confirmed that the P(DMAPS) grafting can substantially enhance the performance of the capillary columns. With the versatility of surface-initiated ATRP and the excellent performance of zwitterionic polymer chains, the zwitterionic polymer coated capillary columns can be readily tailored for analysis of proteins by capillary electrophoresis.