CE-MS for metabolomics: developments and applications in the period 2010-2012.

CE-MS has emerged as a powerful technique for the profiling of (highly) polar and charged metabolites in biological samples. This review provides an update of the most recent developments in CE-MS for metabolomics covering the scientific literature from July 2010 to June 2012. The present paper is an update of two previous review papers covering the years 2000-2010 (Electrophoresis 2009, 30, 276-291; Electrophoresis 2011, 32, 52-65). Emerging technological developments used in CE-MS for metabolomics are discussed, such as the use of novel interfacing techniques for coupling CE to MS. Representative examples illustrate the applicability of CE-MS in the fields of biomedical, clinical, microbial, plant, environmental and food metabolomics. Concerning targeted and non-targeted approaches, a comprehensive overview of recent CE-MS-based metabolomics studies is given in a table. Information on sample type and pretreatment, capillary coatings and MS detection mode is provided. Finally, general conclusions and perspectives are provided.