Chapter 8 High Performance Capillary Electrophoresis of Carbohydrates and Glycoconjugates

Abstract

This chapter discusses high-performance capillary electrophoresis (HPCE) of carbohydrates and glycoconjugates. It highlights major progress made in the electrophoretic process, that is, the capillary column. The chapter reviews approaches and concepts that are most useful in the separation of carbohydrates by HPCE and highlights the dynamic behavior of carbohydrate species in the electrophoretic process. Important applications of the HPCE technique are also discussed. The intrinsic high resolving power of electrophoresis is particularly suitable for the separation of carbohydrates, which encompass a wide spectrum of compounds, many of which are isomers or slightly different from each other. In electrophoresis, a charged particle is transported through the conductive medium at a steady state, characterized by a constant electrophoretic migration velocity. Using the same basic instrumentation, HPCE can be performed in several modes to achieve a given separation. The various modes of HPCE include capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE), capillary electrophoresis with sieving matrices including capillary gel electrophoresis (CGE) and capillary electrophoresis with entangled polymer (CEEP), micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography (MECC), capillary isoelectric focusing (CIEF), and capillary isotachophoresis (CITP).