State-of-the-art of capillary electrophoresis with application to the areaof glycoconjugates

Glycoconjugates constitute a major group of biomolecules, which participate in several biological functions and processes. Their carbohydrate componen ts play key roles in determining the properties of glycoconjugates and, the refore, analysis and structural characterization of carbohydrates are essen tial. Capillary electrophoresis, due to its high resolving power and sensit ivity, has been successfully used for the analysis of carbohydrates. In thi s review the principles of high-performance capillary electrophoresis; mech anisms employed for glycoconjugate analysis as well as the various detectio n techniques used are summarized. Copyright (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd .