Capillary electrophoresis retention mechanism

Enantioresolution in capillary electrophoresis (CE) is typically achieved with the help of chiral additives dissolved in the background electrolyte. A number of low as well as high molecular weight compounds such as proteins, antibiotics, crown ethers, and cyclodextrins have already been tested and optimized. Since the mechanism of retention and resolution remains ambiguous, the selection of an additive best suited for the specific separation relies on the one-at-a-time testing of each individual compound, a tedious process at best. Obviously, the use of a mixed library of chiral additives combined with an efficient deconvolution strategy has the potential to accelerate this selection. 

Capillary electrophoresis (CE) provided an orthogonal separation technique. The retention mechanism can be manipulated with buffers or addition of surfactants to form micelles for the analysis where size and charge differences... 

There are a few relatively simple ways to increase retention times. If they fail, consider another separation mechanism, such as ion exchange or ion exclusion chromatography or move to capillary electrophoresis or capillary electrochromatography. 

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