A novel covalent coupling method for coating of capillaries with liposomes in capillary electrophoresis

A novel covalent coupling method for coating of capillaries with liposomes has been developed, which includes three steps: (i) epoxy-diol coating, (ii) activation with 2,2,2-trifluoroethanesulfonyl chloride, and (iii) liposome coupling. The coating conditions, such as the reaction time and temperature of liposome coupling, the content of dimyristoylphosphatidylethanolamine in liposomes, were optimized. Vesicles were visualized on the inner silica wall as confirmed by atomic force microscopy. The effectiveness of the coating was demonstrated by investigating the effect of pH of BGE on EOF and separating neutral compounds. The intra- and inter-capillary variations in EOF are 4.02% RSD (n=30) and 6.72% RSD (n=4) respectively, and the coated capillaries can be used to perform analysis at least for one month without any performance deterioration when stored at 4 degrees C. A set of drugs with diverse structures was applied into the developed liposome-coated CE. The normalized capacity factor (K) was introduced to quantitatively evaluate drug-membrane interactions. The relationship between log K and the fraction dose absorbed in humans (Fa%) shows that the liposome-coated CE can be utilized for in vitro prediction of Fa% of drugs that follow the transcellular passive transport route.