A novel electrophoretic BGE containing tungstate as complex-forming reagent is suitable for the separation of polyphenols. Similar to molybdate-containing BGE reported earlier (cf. M. Polasek, et al.., Talanta 2006, 69, 192) addition of tungstate to BGE affects significantly migration of compounds/ligands with vicinal -OH groups due to the formation of negatively charged complexes involving W(VI) as central ion. Baseline separation of mixtures of flavonoids (apigenin, luteolin, hyperoside, quercetin, and rutin) and phenolic acids (chlorogenic and p-coumaric acid) was achieved within 15 min with optimized BGE of pH 7.4 containing 50 mM N-(2-hydroxyethyl)piperazine-2'-(2-ethanesulfonic acid) (HEPES), 2.2 mM tungstate, and 25% v/v of methanol. The separation was performed in a 75 cm (effective length 42 cm)x 75 microm id uncoated fused-silica capillary at 30 kV with spectrophotometric detection at 275 nm. The calibration curves were rectilinear for 25-175 microg/mL of all analytes (cinnamic acid as the internal standard). The LODs ranged from 1.8 to 6 microg/mL for all analytes except for chlorogenic acid. Intraday precision (n = 6) of migration times (RSD < or = 1.2%) and peak areas (RSD < or = 5.6%) was evaluated. The tungstate-based BGEs can be alternatively utilized for the analysis of polyphenols at considerably lower pH than with conventional alkaline borate-based BGEs.
