Capillary Electrophoresis and Atomic Absorption Spectrometry—A Rare yet Valuable Liaison, also from a Pharmaceutical Perspective

Both capillary electrophoresis (CE) and atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) are analytical techniques of high performance given their efficient separation and their sensitive detection, respectively. They are predominantly adduced as standalone techniques, also widely used in pharmaceutical sciences. However, with CE, only indirect detection or direct detection of metal complexes using additives to the background electrolyte is feasible, while AAS is not capable of separating different compounds of the same metal. Combining these two techniques would compensate for these limitations by complementing each other. Surprisingly, the hyphenation of CE and AAS represents rather a rare liaison. Therefore, the aim of the current perspective was to shed light on examples where the hybrid technique of CE-AAS was successfully applied thus far. In this context, particular attention was paid to the extent to which the studies and the analytes under investigation might also be relevant from a pharmaceutical point of view. It revealed that the combination of CE and AAS has great potential for research in pharmaceutical sciences. With respect to online hyphenation, this would be even better if interfaces were more widely available. Nevertheless, this overview demonstrates that CE-AAS is a valuable combination. Its potential just needs to be exploited.