Capillary electrophoretic separations of enantiomers using cyclodextrin-containing background electrolytes

The 1996 primary literature papers which deal with the separation of enantiomers using cyclodextrins are reviewed here. Though the majority of the papers still use the neutral native cyclodextrins or the neutral derivatised cyclodextrins as resolving agents, there was a significant increase in number of separations which relied on charged cyclodextrins, both weak electrolytes and strong electrolytes, as resolving agents. Also, there was an increase in the number of papers which reported binding constants and correlated them with other physical or chemical characteristics of the analytes. Several successful minor enantiomer determinations were presented, pushing the reliable quantitation levels below 0.1%. Work continued on the simultaneous use of neutral and charged cyclodextrins to improve separation selectivity or peak resolution.