High resolution separations of charge variants and disulfide isomers of monoclonal antibodies and antibody drug conjugates using ultra-high voltage capillary electrophoresis with high electric field strength

Ultra-high voltage capillary electrophoresis with high electric field strength has been applied to the separation of the charge variants, drug conjugates, and disulfide isomers of monoclonal antibodies. Samples composed of many closely related species are difficult to resolve and quantify using traditional analytical instrumentation. High performance instrumentation can often save considerable time and effort otherwise spent on extensive method development. Ideally, the resolution obtained for a given CE buffer system scales with the square root of the applied voltage. Currently available commercial CE instrumentation is limited to an applied voltage of approximately 30 kV and a maximum electric field strength of 1 kV/cm due to design limitations. The instrumentation described here is capable of safely applying potentials of at least 120 kV with electric field strengths over 2000 V/cm, potentially doubling the resolution of the best conventional CE buffer/capillary systems while decreasing analysis time in some applications. Separations of these complex mixtures using this new instrumentation demonstrate the potential of ultra-high voltage CE to identify the presence of previously unresolved components and to reduce analysis time for complex mixtures of antibody variants and drug conjugates.