Capillary electrophoresis and capillary electrochromatography of organic pollutants

Capillary electrophoresis (CE) has a unique capability for separation of analytes of environmental concern, particularly those that are more polar and ionic, based on the complementary separation principle of electrophoresis. In the past few years, CE has been selectively used to analyze various classes of compounds having current or potential environmental relevance. This review outlines the current status of CE for the determination of environmental pollutants, based predominantly on research results published from the beginning of 1997 to early 1999. Covered are environmental pollutants of all types except pesticides and inorganics. Certain naturally produced toxins are also covered because of their significant impacts upon human health and the environment. CE methods, as with all methods, must be judged on their ability to provide approaches that are reliable, sensitive, selective, and rapid, while meeting "green chemistry" initiatives for pollution prevention. We also compare CE methods to benchmark environmental techniques involving gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS), and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).