Recent progress in enantiomer separation by capillary electrochromatography

Abstract

Enantiomer separation by electrochromatography (CEC) can be performed in three modes: (i) open-tubular capillary electrochromatography (o-CEC), in which the chiral selector is physically adsorbed coated, and thermally immobilized or covalently attached to the internal capillary wall; (ii) packed capillary electrochromatography (p-CEC), in which the capillary is either filled with chiral modified silica particles or with an achiral packing material, and a chiral selector is added to the mobile phase; and (iii) monolithic (rod)-capillary electrochromatography (rod-CEC) in which the chiral stationary phase (CSP) consists of a single piece of porous solid. We present an overview on methods and new trends in the field of electrochromatographic enantiomer separation such as CEC with either nonaqueous mobile phases or stationary phases with incorporated permanent charges, or with packing beds consisting of nonporous silica particles or particles with very small internal diameters.