Recent advances in the analysis of antibiotics by CE and CEC.

This article reviews the most recent developments concerning the determination of antibiotics by CE and CEC. The most employed CE separation modes were CZE and MEKC although microemulsion electrokinetic capillary chromatoghraphy was also employed. For the first time, CE was coupled to MS that was applied as a specific and confirmatory detection technique for the analysis of antibiotics. The analytical characteristics of the developed methodologies as well as the different applications reported in the literature on this subject from June 2005 until May 2007 are included in this article. To give the most relevant information on this topic, the experimental conditions employed to achieve the analysis of antibiotics by CE and CEC are provided together with the main applications performed in the pharmaceutical, agrochemical, biological, food, and environmental fields, emphacizing sample preparation requirements needed in each case.