Chiral glycosidic surfactants for enantiomeric separation in capillary electrophoresis

Several glycosidic surfactants (GSs) have been shown useful in the separation of enantiomers by capillary electrophoresis. The virtue of GSs is that they can be used as (i) neutral chiral additives in the running electrolyte for the enantioseparation of charged chiral solutes by capillary zone electrophoresis, (ii) as in situ charged micelles for the enantioseparation of neutral and charged chiral solutes by micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography (MECC), (iii) as anionic chiral surfactants in the MECC mode upon covalently attaching negatively charged groups to their sugar head groups, and (iv) as neutral and anionic chiral surfactants mixed with achiral micelles (e.g., sodium dodecyl sulfate) for MECC of enantiomers. This review article is to provide a comprehensive description of GSs in the chiral separation of various enantiomers over a wide range of operating conditions.