High-performance capillary electrophoresis of glycoconjugates

Capillary electrophoresis (CE) has recently emerged as a highly promising technique for the analysis and structural study of glycoconjugates. This article reviews the current status of CE and its potential in glycobiology. The separation media suitable for the analysis of monosaccharides, oligosaccharides and very large carbohydrate-based biomolecules are discussed. The detection aspects emphasize chemical derivatization approaches to tagging the glycoconjugates of interest for enhanced response in absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy.