Rapid capillary gel electrophoresis of proteins.

The rapid separation of sodium dodecyl sulphate-protein complexes according to their molecular masses (M(r)) by capillary gel electrophoresis is described. Using commercial equipment, standard proteins with M(r) in the range 29,000-97,400 were resolved to the baseline in less than 2 min by utilizing a separation distance of 7 cm. A linear relationship between migration time and log M(r) was found and rapid determination of the molecular mass of light and heavy chains of human immunoglobulin G is reported. The results are compared with applications using longer separation distances, showing that rapid and efficient analysis and adequate resolution can be obtained by using short separation distances.