Detection in capillary electrophoresis

A review of the four major, on-line, capillary electrophoresis (CE) detecti on modalities is presented. It is shown that each detection method, fluores cence, absorbance (conventional and nonconventional), electrochemical and r efractive index, have distinct advantages and limitations when applied to a nalysis in a CE format. Various aspects of CE detection are considered and a perspective regarding the applicability of the technique is provided. It is shown that because of widely varying detection limits (ranging from sing le molecule to 10(-5) M) and detection scheme complexity, the particular ap plication should dictate the selection of detection methodology in CE.