One of the most cited limitations of capillary (and microchip) electrophoresis is the poor sensitivity. This review continues to update this series of biannual reviews, first published in Electrophoresis in 2007, on developments in the field of on-line/in-line concentration methods, covering the period July 2012-July 2014. It includes developments in the field of stacking, covering all methods from field-amplified sample stacking and large-volume sample stacking, through to ITP, dynamic pH junction, and sweeping. Attention is also given to on-line or in-line extraction methods that have been used for electrophoresis.

CE has been alive for over two decades now, yet its sensitivity is still regarded as being inferior to that of more traditional methods of separation such as HPLC. As such, it is unsurprising that overcoming this issue still generates much scientific interest. This review continues to update this series of reviews, first published in Electrophoresis in 2007, with updates published in 2009 and 2011 and covers material published through to June 2012. It includes developments in the field of stacking, covering all methods from field amplified sample stacking and large volume sample stacking, through to isotachophoresis, dynamic pH junction and sweeping. Attention is also given to online or inline extraction methods that have been used for electrophoresis.

One of the most cited limitations of capillary and microchip electrophoresis is the poor sensitivity. This review continues to update this series of biannual reviews, first published in Electrophoresis in 2007, on developments in the field of online/in‐line concentration methods in capillaries and microchips, covering the period July 2016–June 2018. It includes developments in the field of stacking, covering all methods from field‐amplified sample stacking and large‐volume sample stacking, through to isotachophoresis, dynamic pH junction, and sweeping. Attention is also given to online or in‐line extraction methods that have been used for electrophoresis.

One of the most cited limitations of capillary (and microchip) electrophoresis is the poor sensitivity. This review continues to update this series of biennial reviews, first published in Electrophoresis in 2007, on developments in the field of on-line/in-line concentration methods in capillaries and microchips, covering the period July 2014-June 2016. It includes developments in the field of stacking, covering all methods from field amplified sample stacking and large volume sample stacking, through to isotachophoresis, dynamic pH junction, and sweeping. Attention is also given to on-line or in-line extraction methods that have been used for electrophoresis.

A novel and effective fibre-based microfluidic methodology was developed to move and isolate charged solutes, biomolecules, and intact bacterial cells, based upon a novel multi-functional 3D printed supporting platform, with potential applications in the fields of microfluidics and biodiagnostics. Various on-fibre electrophoretic techniques are demonstrated to separate, pre-concentrate, move, split, or cut and collect the isolated zones of target solutes, including proteins and live bacterial cells. The use of knotting to link different fibre materials, and the unique ability of this approach to physically concentrate solutes in different locations are shown such that the concentrated solutes can be physically isolated and easily transferred to other fibres. Application of this novel fibre-based technique within a potential diagnostic platform for urinary tract infection is shown, together with the post-electrophoretic incubation of live bacterial cells, demonstrating the cell survival following on-fibre electrophoretic concentration.

A highly sensitive capillary isotachophoresis method with LIF detection for microbial analysis was developed. This allowed the reliable analysis of Escherichia coli bacteria with a LOD of 14 cells in a sample volume of 100 μL, or 1.35 × 10(2) cell/mL, which is 47 times lower than reported by CE-LIF and 148 times lower than CE-UV with on-line concentration. A leading electrolyte of 50 mM Tris-HCl was used while the cells were diluted in 5 mM Tris HEPES as the terminator. To facilitate detection, cells were stained with the universal nucleic acid fluorophore SYTO 9. Continuous electrokinetic injection of the cells from the terminator under field amplified conditions concentrated cells into a single peak at the leader/terminator boundary allowing quantitation by measurement of peak height. The method was applied to water collected from two local streams, with only filtration through a 5-μm syringe filter to remove large particulate matter followed by a ten times dilution in terminator, with total analysis time approximately 40 min. The detected cell numbers in the water samples by the isotachophoresis method were 3.70 × 10(5) cell/mL and 2.62 × 10(4) cell/mL, which were slightly higher than the 9.50 × 10(4) cell/mL and 1.96 × 10(4) cell/mL obtained by conventional microbiological plate counting.

A counter-pressure-assisted capillary isotachophoresis method in combination with a sieving matrix and ionic spacer was used to perform in-line fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) of bacterial cells. A high concentration of sieving matrix (1.8% w/v HEC) was introduced at one end of the capillary, and the bacterial cells were suspended in the spacer electrolyte for injection. Using a 2 min injection with 18 psi counter-pressure, 50% of the cells injected into the capillary were hybridized with the fluorescently labeled oligonucleotide, and the excess unhybridized probe was separated from the hybridized cell-probe complexes in a two-stage ITP method. With an LOD (6.0 × 10 cells/mL) comparable with the CE analysis of a sample processed using an off-line FISH protocol, the total analysis time was reduced from 2.5 h to 30 min. Provided the appropriate probe is selected, this approach can be used for specific detection of bacterial cells in aqueous samples.

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