Electrophoresis is a class of separation techniques in which we separate analytes by their ability to move through a conductive medium in response to an applied electric field. This conductive medium is usually an aqueous buffer. Generally, when the electric field is applied, cations migrate toward the electric field’s negatively charged cathode. Anions migrate toward the positively charged anode and neutral species do not experience the electrical field and remain stationary. Ions with larger charge-to-size ratios—which favors ions of larger charge and of smaller size—migrate at a faster rate than ions with smaller charge-to-size ratios. High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) or Gas Chromatography (GC) use liquid and gas respectively to force the sample through a column, but electrophoresis utilizes an electric field.

In capillary electrophoresis (CE), the conducting buffer is retained within a capillary tube whose inner diameter is typically 25–75 μm. Samples are introduced into one end of the capillary tube. As the sample migrates through the capillary its components separate and elute from the column at different times. When a component in the sample migrates at a lower rate, the component will be retained and will have a longer retention time. When a sample migrates at a faster rate, the retention time is shorter. Similar to HPLC and GC, the retention times can be used to identify components and determine the amount of component that was in the original sample. In capillary electrophoresis, the movement of ions through the capillary is defined by the ion’s electrophoretic mobility. A basic schematic of the instrument can be seen in Figure 1.1.

Figure 1.1: Schematic diagram of the basic instrumentation for capillary electrophoresis. The sample and the source reservoir are switched when making injections.