Capillary electrophoresis mass spectrometry coupling with immobilized enzyme electrospray capillaries

Open tubular capillary enzyme reactors were studied for rapid protein digestion and possible on-line integration into a CE/ESI/MS system. The need to minimize the time of the analyte molecules to diffuse towards the surface immobilized enzyme and to maximize the surface-to-volume (S/V) ratio of the open tubular reactors dictated the use of very narrow bore capillaries. Extremely small protein amounts (atto-femtomoles loaded) could be digested with enzymes immobilized directly on the inside wall of a 10 μm I.D. capillary. Covalently immobilized L-1-tosylamido-2-phenylethyl chloromethyl ketone (TPCK)-trypsin and pepsin A were tested for the surface immobilization. The enzymatic activity was characterized in the flow-through mode with on-line coupling to electrospray ionization-time of flight-mass spectrometer (ESI/TOF-MS) under a range of protein concentrations, buffer pH's, temperatures and reaction times. The optimized reactors were tested as the nanospray needles for fast identification of proteins using CE-ESI/TOF-MS.