School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Geneva, University of Lausanne, Geneva 4, Switzerland.
J Chromatogr A. 2012 Dec 7;1267:17-31. doi: 10.1016/j.chroma.2012.07.019. Epub 2012 Jul 16.
Capillary electrophoresis (CE) hyphenated to electrospray ionization (ESI) mass spectrometry (MS) is a powerful tool for analyzing a wide variety of analytes in different matrices. The major issue with CE-ESI-MS lies in finding a suitable and versatile interface to ensure the best CE and ESI operations. Thus, the development and improvement of CE-ESI-MS interfaces have been the subjects of much research. The first part of the present review focuses on the fundamental aspects of the three steps of the ESI process, i.e., spray formation, droplet evolution, and the production of gas-phase ions. In the second part of the review, the electrochemical reactions involved in the ESI and CE processes and their influences on the sensitivity and performance are discussed in detail. Then, the existing interfaces are divided into two major classes according to their operating flow rate (electrospray vs. nanospray regime). The particular characteristics of these two regimes are discussed by considering their practical impacts on ionization and the MS response. Finally, the current CE-ESI-MS interfaces are summarized, including their major advantages, drawbacks, and fields of application.
毛细管电泳（CE）与电喷雾电离（ESI）质谱（MS）联用是分析不同基质中各种分析物的强大工具。CE-ESI-MS 的主要问题在于找到合适且通用的接口，以确保最佳的 CE 和 ESI 操作。因此，CE-ESI-MS 接口的开发和改进一直是许多研究的主题。本综述的第一部分重点介绍 ESI 过程的三个步骤的基本方面，即喷雾形成、液滴演变和气相离子的产生。在综述的第二部分中，详细讨论了 ESI 和 CE 过程中涉及的电化学反应及其对灵敏度和性能的影响。然后，根据操作流速（电喷雾与纳喷雾区）将现有接口分为两大类。通过考虑它们对电离和 MS 响应的实际影响来讨论这两个区的特殊特征。最后，总结了当前的 CE-ESI-MS 接口，包括它们的主要优点、缺点和应用领域。
