Applications of Capillary Electrophoresis-Mass Spectrometry to Chiral Analysis

Capillary electrophoresis (CE) is a technique that has already proven its importance in the separation of enantiomers. The combination of CE with mass spectrometry (MS) detection further boosts the possibilities of CE in terms of achieving higher sensitivity with the possibility of an unambiguous assignment of analytes of interest. This chapter details four different examples using CE in the electrokinetic chromatography (EKC) mode coupled to MS with application to four different fields of analysis (pharmaceutical, biomedical, food, and agrochemical). The first two methods are based on the use of a single and a double chiral selector system, respectively, in which the partial filling technique (PFT) had to be used to avoid MS-source contamination. In the last two examples, PFT was not needed as they were based on the use of low concentrations of chiral selector but a derivatization step was necessary to allow proper enantiorecognition with the chiral selectors. Description of these protocols is fully explained.