Coupling electrochemistry to capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry

Hyphenated techniques have become an important tool in modern analytical research. Among detection techniques, mass spectrometry (MS) plays a dominant role, but efficient analyte separation prior to MS detection is usually desirable, as it provides the basis for reliable qualitative and quantitative determination. However, electrochemical methods offer very versatile approaches for selective sample pretreatment or analyte conversion. This review summarizes recent instrumental analytical developments, which resulted in a special kind of a hyphenated system: electrochemistry-capillary electrophoresis-MS (EC-CE-MS). We discuss the analytical characteristics of this approach and compare them with those of other techniques coupling EC with separation techniques and MS. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.