Potencies of ligand-exchange capillary electrophoresis in the determination of biologically active compounds

The analytical potencies of ligand-exchange capillary electrophoresis (LECE) in regard to the determination of bioactive substances are discussed. As it is shown, complexation with copper(II) in the electrophoretic determination with UV detection makes possible the determination of amino acids, amines, and sugars, which do not absorb in the UV region, with the limits of detection 5–10 mg/L, and reduce the detection limits of the absorbing analytes, such as tryptophane, tyrosine, and histamine by 2–3 times. Prospects for using online preconcentration for the reduction of c _min are shown on an example of aliphatic amino acids, i.e., thirtyfold preconcentration is attained. LECE is shown to be applicable to the simultaneous determination of glucose, Na(⁺), and K(⁺) in human blood serum. Also versions of ligand-exchange capillary electrophoresis with direct UV detection and capillary zone electrophoresis with indirect one are compared in terms of efficiency, time of analysis, and limit of detection. The potencies of the LECE method are compared with those of ligand-exchange chromatography.