Bioanalytical applications of fast capillary electrophoresis

Capillary electrophoresis is unique among liquid-phase separations in its utility for fast separations. Development of technology such as optical-gating, flow-gating, and microfabrication has allowed separations on the millisecond time scale to be developed. The fast separation times place great demands on the detector systems, frequently requiring detection limits below 1 amol to be practical. The development of such fast separations has opened many new applications not previously feasible for separations-based methods. This has included real time chemical monitoring, detection of short-lived species such as protein conformers or non-covalent complexes, and rapid multi-dimensional separations. Other applications currently being developed include high-throughput assays for clinical laboratories or screening combinatorial libraries. This review covers recent developments in the instrumentation for fast CE and some of the applications. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.