Closer chemical analysis

Scientists have long used capillaries to analyse the chemical makeup of substances. Called capillary electrophoresis (CE), the method applies high voltage to the capillaries, and by measuring the rate that the various materials move through the capillaries, researchers are able to identify individual compounds.

A group of researchers at the US Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory have developed a method called dynamic multiple equilibrium gradients (DMEG) that fine-tunes the process, allowing for a significant increase in resolution over previous methods. Potential applications include chemical, biological and biomedical sciences, as well as in environmental monitoring, biological warfare detection and drug discovery.

“This method is hyperselective and we can design it to target specific analytes [any compound or substance chosen to undergo analysis] for separation,” said Ryszard Jankowiak, an Ames Lab senior scientist. “Running multiple electric field gradients can focus and move the analytes to the detection window at precisely defined times, creating signature ‘fingerprints’, which minimises the probability of false positives.”