An automated and self-cleaning nano liquid chromatography mass spectrometry platform featuring an open tubular multi-hole crystal fiber solid phase extraction column and an open tubular separation column.

An open tubular (OT) sample preparation/separation platform was developed. A multi-channel polymer layer open tubular (mPLOT) solid phase extraction (SPE) column was prepared by wall-coating the 126 channels (8μm inner diameter (ID) each) of a crystal fiber capillary with an organic polymer, namely poly(styrene-co-octadecene-co-divinylbenzene) (PS-OD-DVB). The mPLOT SPE was coupled on-line with a 10μm×2m poly(styrene-co-divinylbenzene) (PS-DVB) OT liquid chromatography column with nanospray mass spectrometry (OTLC-MS). Compared to using monolithic/particle-packed SPEs, mPLOT-SPE-OTLC allowed both fast loading and sufficient refocusing on the OT analytical column of small model compounds (sulfonamides≈300Da). Using automatic filtration/filter back-flushing (AFFL) plumbing, the mPLOT SPE column gave a constant and low back-pressure ≈35bar at 0.5μL/min. Surprisingly large sample volumes (10μL) were possible to be injected using a 12cm mPLOT.