(549d) Self-Assembled Nanomaterials for Capillary Electrophoresis Separations of DNA

DNA markers used for human and pathogen identification must be separated rapidly and reliably.  Traditionally this is accomplished with slab gels or linear gels in capillary separations.  We recently developed a new separation additive to enhance DNA sieving using phospholipids that self-assemble forming entangled ribbons.  Phospholipid preparations comprised of dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine (DMPC) and dihexanoylphosphatidylcholine (DHPC) spontaneously assembly to form disks or wormlike micelles.  The morphology of this nanomaterial is temperature dependent.  For example, a 7 °C change in temperature can produce a ~370-fold increase in viscosity.  Because the viscosity of the material is reversibly switched from a freely flowing fluid to a pseudo-gel, the sieving agent is easily loaded and expelled from microscale channels.  The additive provides effective capillary separations of DNA based on chemical sieving with theoretical plate counts as high as 2,600,000.  The properties and separation performance of the material are reported.  Innovative separation and detection strategies for DNA are presented and the promise of a wide range of applications is discussed.