Micellar electrokinetic chromatography

A review of the research on micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC), carried out mainly in our laboratory, is described from the viewpoints of (1) fundamental characteristics of MEKC, such as the separation principle, chromatographic parameters, selectivity and resolution, thermodynamic parameters, retention index, and band broadening; (2) selectivity manipulation, including effects of surfactants, temperature, pH, and various additives; (3) on-line coupling of MEKC with mass spectrometry; (4) applications, such as the separation of closely related compounds and enantiomer separations; and (5) on-line neutral sample concentration techniques.