Separation of catecholamines by microchip electrophoresis with a simple integrated laser-induced fluorescence detector

A simple microchip electrophoresis–laser-induced fluorescence device was constructed and used for separation and determination of catecholamines. On the fabricated glass chip, an extra optical fiber insertion channel, which was perpendicular and extremely close to the separation channel, was directly integrated by nothing operations more than design features on the photomask. The utilization of optical fiber to transmit the excitation light and the integration fiber channel make the fluorescence detection system simple and disposable. For electrophoresis, optimization of separation conditions was investigated for reaching high separation efficiency and sensitivity. A separation efficiency as high as 106 theoretical plate numbers could be obtained for the analytes.