Recent advances in electrochemical detection in capillary electrophoresis

Recent advances in the design and application of electrochemical (EC) detection systems in capillary electrophoresis (CE) are reviewed, with the objective of providing the nonelectrochemist with a state-of-the-art picture of CEEC instrumentation and an overview of the principal analytes for which CEEC is best suited. The detection schemes considered here include those based both on amperometry and on potentiometry as both kinds of EC systems are being actively developed in CE and have the potential for broad application in analysis. Over the three-year period covered by this review, an important direction that CEEC has taken is the construction of more complex electrode systems beginning with the use of multiple EC electrodes and culminating with the adaptation of EC detection to microfabricated "lab-on-a-chip" analysis devices. In addition, CEEC applications have now grown to include a broad variety of inorganic, organic, and biochemical analytes and samples.