ReactorCell

ReactorCell™ for microbore LC

• Electrochemical oxidation / activation / reduction
• Down to 0.7 µL cell volume
• Easy exchange of working electrodes
• Zero sample adsorption

The DECADE II with dual cell control (DCC) can be equipped with an additional flow cell, such as a ReactorCell for µ-bore LC-EC. The cell is positioned between the chromatographic column and the detection flow cell. A potential is applied that converts the analyte of interest into an electroactive species that can be detected by the detection flow cell.

This approach is usually applied to obtain a better selectivity or sensitivity, and is only applicable for analytes with reversible electrochemical reaction properties. An example is the pre-reduction followed by oxidative detection of vitamin K (Antec's application note 218-005).

EC upfront MS is another field of application for the ReactorCell. Already in the early nineties reports appeared describing the use of HPLC in combination with electrochemical detection and mass spectrometry for signal enhancement  of PAH's and cleavage of peptides. More recently the on-line coupling of EC with LC/MS has shown great potential for the investigation of drug metabolism. It offers fast electrochemical synthesis of drug metabolites for reliable quantification by MS.

ReactorCell and electrodes

Reactor cell