Capillary electrophoresis and capillary electrochromatography of organic pollutants

Capillary electrophoresis (CE) has a unique capability for separation of an alytes of environmental concern, particularly those that are more polar and ionic, based on the complementary separation principle of electrophoresis. In the past few years, CE has been selectively used to analyze various cla sses of compounds having current or potential environmental relevance. This review outlines the current status of CE for the determination of environm ental pollutants, based predominantly on research results published from th e beginning of 1997 to early 1999. Covered are environmental pollutants of all types except pesticides and inorganics. Certain naturally produced toxi ns are also covered because of their significant impacts upon human health and the environment. CE methods, as with all methods, must be judged on the ir ability to provide approaches that are reliable, sensitive, selective, a nd rapid, while meeting "green chemistry" initiatives for pollution prevent ion. We also compare CE methods to benchmark environmental techniques invol ving gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), liquid chromatography-ma ss spectrometry (LC-MS), and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).