Capillary electrophoresis frontal analysis: principles and applications for the study of drug-plasma protein binding

Capillary electrophoresis is a well-established technique for the study of noncovalent interactions. Various approaches exist and capillary electrophoresis-frontal analysis provides an interesting alternative to the migration shift affinity capillary electrophoresis methods and conventional methods. The present work reviews the principles on which the frontal analysis method is founded. Advantages and limitations of capillary electrophoresis frontal analysis in comparison with both conventional and other capillary electrophoresis based methods for quantification of binding interactions are discussed. Investigations utilizing capillary electrophoresis-frontal analysis have focused on the interaction of drugs with plasma proteins. These studies, primarily addressing the binding of drugs to human serum albumin, alpha1-acid glycoprotein, and lipoproteins are reviewed together with some recent developments in capillary electrophoresis-frontal analysis methodology.