Capillary electrophoresis: a powerful microanalytical technique for biologically active molecules.

Capillary electrophoresis (CE) is a versatile microanalytical technique that has gained much attention, particularly from those working with biologically active molecules. Its appealing characteristics include unprecedented sensitivity and the ability for automating the rapid electrophoretic separation of a number of low-volume samples in a reproducible manner, with relatively short analysis times. The picomole-femtomole (10(-12)-10(-15) mol) sensitivity of UV-CE has been enhanced tremendously by the interfacing of detection systems such as laser-induced fluorescence, which has extended the sensitivity into the attomole-zeptomole (10(-18)-10(-21) mol) range. Fluorescence detection has shown great potential for the CE analysis of a wide range of biomolecules including peptides, proteins and DNA. CE research and development has taken on directions focused primarily on improving detection, understanding and exploiting the basic chemistry of CE and devising new applications.