Electrospun polyvinyl alcohol ultra-thin layer chromatography of amino acids

Electrospun polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) ultrathin layer chromatographic (UTLC) plates were fabricated using in situ crosslinking electrospinning technique. The value of these ULTC plates were characterized using the separation of fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) labeled amino acids and the separation of amino acids followed visualization using ninhydrin. The in situ crosslinked electrospun PVA plates showed enhanced stability in water and were stable when used for the UTLC study. The selectivity of FITC labeled amino acids on PVA plate was compared with that on commercial Si-Gel plate. The efficiency of the separation varied with analyte concentration, size of capillary analyte applicator, analyte volume, and mat thickness. The concentration of 7 mM or less, 50 μm i.d. capillary applicator, minimum volume of analyte solution and three-layered mat provides the best efficiency of FITC-labeled amino acids on PVA UTLC plate. The efficiency on PVA plate was greatly improved compared to the efficiency on Si-Gel HPTLC plate. The hydrolysis products of aspartame in diet coke, aspartic acid and phenylalanine, were also successfully analyzed using PVA-UTLC plate.

► Electrospun crosslinked PVA as UTLC stationary phase.
► Eleven laser dye labeled amino acids were tested on the PVA UTLC plate.
► The separation efficiency on PVA UTLC plate was much higher than on Si-Gel HPTLC plate.
► Unlabeled amino acids, alanine, methionine, arginine, and phenylalanine were baseline separated on PVA UTLC plate using ninhydrin as visualization reagent.