Leland Stanford Junior University

Raymond T Huckaby

Richard Neil Zare

Xiaohua Huang

A capillary tube has a structure in its wall that permits ions to flow but no substantial amount of electrolyte to move therethrough. The structure therefore permits electrical contact between the electrolyte inside the tube and the outside environment without diluting the electrolyte. The structure forms only a small part of the side wall so that the tube retains its structural integrity and can be used in electrophoresis without requiring structural support. In the preferred embodiment, the structure is formed by drilling a hole in the side wall, filling the hole with glass powder and fused silica and heating the mixture to form a frit structure to plug the hole. The frit structure permits ions to flow but substantially no electrolyte to move therethrough. Electrophoretic samples exiting from the end of the tube are not diluted and can be continuously collected, such as on top of a moving plate.

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San Jose, CA, United States of America

Raymond T Huckaby