Quaternized cellulose-supported gold nanoparticles as capillary coatings to enhance protein separation by capillary electrophoresis

• Au NPs were synthesized and stabilized by using quaternized cellulose as support matrix.
• QC-Au NPs was used as capillary coating for protein separation in capillary electrophoresis.
• The separation performance was significantly improved in the capillary coated by QC-Au NPs.
• QC-Au NPs provided good resolution for the separation of closely related proteins.

Gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) were synthesized and stabilized by using water-soluble quaternized cellulose (QC) as support matrix through a straightforward and environmentally friendly aqueous-phase approach. The structure and morphology of QC-supported Au NPs (QC-Au NPs) were investigated systematically by UV–visible, FT-IR, x-ray diffraction and TEM measurement. The Au NPs with mean diameter of about 7 nm were shown to efficiently redisperse in water due to the strong interaction between QC and Au NPs, and the solutions were quite stable after storage for nearly 4 months at room temperature. QC-Au NPs were subsequently used as novel physically adsorbed coatings for protein separation by CE. The separation performance was significantly improved in the capillary coated by QC-Au NPs compared with that of the uncoated capillary or QC coated capillary. A small quantity of Au NPs (Au content of 4.6%) was adequate for the obvious improvement of coating ability. The theoretical plate number of lysozyme in QC-Au1 NPs coated capillary was 2.9 times as much as that in QC coated capillary. We have demonstrated the separation of six model proteins with RSD of migration time less than 2.79% and RSD of peak area less than 4.81%. Furthermore, QC-Au NPs was applied to the analysis of closely related proteins and biological samples. With simplicity, high resolution and reproducibility, the proposed method shows potential for applications in proteomics and clinical diagnosis.