The Book Corner

Abstract

This is Volume 128 in the “Drugs and the Pharmaceutical Sciences” Series. This volume gives a comprehensive review of another aspect of capillary electrophoresis (CE), namely affinity CE. Since the pioneering accomplishments of Hjertén and, particularly, of Jorgenson and Lukacs, CE has undergone a dynamic development, producing a variety of applications. In chemical and pharmaceutical analysis, CE was employed mainly to separate and quantify drugs; this subject has recently been reviewed. The implementation of CE in quality control or drug profiling in biological systems has been illustrated in numerous studies. Capillary electrophoresis separations can be performed in different modes, using the same technical equipment. Capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) and micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC), introduced by Terabe et al., are most frequently employed. The first part of this book presents theoretical basics necessary to understand the principles and techniques of CE, as well as ACE. This knowledge opens access to potential applications in pharmaceutics, e.g., the investigation of interaction partners improving the solubility of lipophilic and barely watersoluble drugs and the determination of the effects of amphiphilic ion-pairing or complexation reagents (e.g., pharmaceutical excipients) on the permeation as well as absorption behavior of hydrophilic drugs. ACE enables the calculation of equilibrium constants, which are a measure of the strength of interaction. Although MEKC and ACE are based on the same principle, the recent