Capillary electrophoretic enantioseparations using macrocyclic antibiotics as chiral selectors

Macrocyclic antibiotics are the newest class of chiral selector used in capillary electrophoresis (CE) enantioseparations. Two basic types of compounds have proven to produce useful enantioseparations. They are the ansa compounds and the glycopeptides. The ansa compounds best resolve basic or cationic racemates while the glycopeptides best resolve acidic or anionic analytes. The structure and use of these chiral selectors are discussed. The factors affecting separation and the separation mechanism are considered as well.