Automatic Combination of Microfluidic Nanoliter-Scale Droplet Array with High-Speed Capillary Electrophoresis

In this paper, we developed a novel approach for interfacing a microfluidic two-dimensional droplet array to a high-speed capillary electrophoresis (HSCE) system. Picoliter-scale sample injection (ca. 200 pL) from a nanoliter-scale droplet array covered by nonvolatile oil was automatically achieved using the spontaneous injection mode, without the interference from the cover oil and the need of special droplet extraction interface as in previously reported systems. The system was applied in consecutive separations of 25 different samples of amino acids with a whole separation time less than 15 min, as well as on-line monitoring of in-droplet derivatizing reaction of amino acids by fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) over 3 hours. High separation speed (up to 100 samples per hour) and high separation efficiency (up to 9.22 × 10(5) N/m) were achieved.