2012 Volume 33 Issue 1 Pages 25-33
Microchip electrophoresis (MCE) is one of the versatile separation techniques in microfluidic systems since MCE has remarkable advantages such as high resolution, rapid analysis, small consumptions of samples and reagents, and high integratability to other chemical operations on planer substrate. However, there still remains a significant problem about a poor sensitivity due to a short optical pathlength and extremely small volume of analytes introduced into the separation channel. To overcome this drawback, a lot of on-line sample preconcentration methods have been developed and applied to MCE for improving the sensitivity. In this review, the author highlights recent progresses on combinations of chemical operations integrated onto microfluidic devices for enhancing a detector signal, e.g., solid phase extraction (SPE), affinity capturing, electrokinetic filtrating/trapping, and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with MCE mainly from 2009. The other integrated techniques and methods which are expected to be combined with MCE are also introduced briefly.
