"Getting the best sensitivity from on-capillary fluorescence detection in capillary electrophoresis" - A tutorial.

Capillary electrophoresis with Laser-Induced Fluorescence (CE-LIF) detection is being applied to new analytical problems which challenge both the power of CE separation and the sensitivity of LIF detection. On-capillary LIF detection is much more practical than post-capillary detection in a sheath-flow cell. Therefore, commercial CE instruments utilize solely on-capillary CE-LIF detection with a Limit of Detection (LOD) in the nM range, while there are multiple applications of CE-LIF that require pM or lower LODs. This tutorial analyzes all aspects of on-capillary LIF detection in CE in an attempt to identify means for improving LOD of CE-LIF with on-capillary detection. We consider principles of signal enhancement and noise reduction, as well as relevant areas of fluorophore photochemistry and fluorescent microscopy.