This report covers advances in capillary electrophoresis (CE) from January 2018 through September 2019. A summary of the literature during this time period is insightful. A search performed using the SciFinder Scholar® database for journal reports (limited to English) using the term capillary electrophoresis returned approximately 1,800 publications. Further analysis of this list, depicted in Figure 1, provided a snapshot of activity in biomolecular research. Classes of biomolecules most frequently associated with CE publications were proteins, drugs, DNA and metabolites. Another measure of the impact of CE is the translation of this technology into society. A search of patent activity illustrating this process of CE technology transfer returned 346 patents published in all languages, with a substantial contribution reported only in Chinese (198 patents) or English (98 patents). The versatility of CE for biological systems is exemplified by the rise of the technique in several areas. Metabolomics research involving measurements of large sets of molecules with subtle structural differences benefits from rapid separations achieved with high peak capacity and automated instruments. Single cell and sub-cellular analyses continue to progress in CE because of the size compatibility of the technique with the sample. Other examples of areas utilizing CE that are accelerating include portable and printable instrumentation, affinity interaction, as well as proteomics. As an established analytical tool, CE instrumentation and methods have been designed to be accessible and easily adopted by researchers with expertise in areas beyond the field of separations. Generally, publications including CE measurements either outline innovations in the technique or they are compelling applications of a mature analytical approach. The goal of this review, which is limited to 180 citations, is

Capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry is a powerful technique for high-throughput and high efficiency separations combined with structural identification. Electrospray ionization is the primary interface used to couple capillary electrophoresis to mass analyzers; however, improved designs continue to be reported. A new interfacing method based on vibrating sharp-edge spray ionization is presented in this work to overcome the challenges of decoupling applied voltages and to enhance the compatibility with separations performed at near-neutral pH. The versatility and ease of use of this ionization source is demonstrated using β-blockers, peptides, and proteins. The cationic β-blocker pindolol was injected electrokinetically, and detected at concentrations ranging from 10 nM to 5 μM, with an estimated detection limit of 2 nM. The vibrating sharp-edge spray ionization functions with flow rates from 70 to 200 nL/min and did not perturb the capillary electrophoresis separation electroosmotic flow as evidenced by the observation that most migration times differed less than 7% (n = 3) across a lab-built system interfaced to mass spectrometry and a commercial system that utilizes absorbance detection. For cationic beta-blockers the theoretical plates achieved in the capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry setup were 80%–95% of that observed with a commercial capillary electrophoresis–UV absorbance detection system.

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