Recent development of CE-ICP-MS in biospeciation research and analysis: From anticancer drugs to nanoparticles and beyond

Capillary electrophoresis (CE) coupled to ICP-MS occupies its rightful place in mainstream biospeciation analysis, where this coupling is certainly much more than a complementary tool to the other separation-based techniques. This brief review critically discusses the current and emerging capabilities of CE-ICP-MS in the simultaneous detection of chemical species of a given element occurring in samples of biological origin, with a particular focus placed on the areas of metal-based drug and nanoparticle research. The most advantageous separation and detection strategies and the method's analytical performance are illustrated with a selection of real-world applications from recent literature. Among the methodological trends, using tandem and single-particle ICP-MS technology steadily moves to the frontline. Further progress in the field would keep step with more reliable, versatile, and robust CE-ICP-MS assays suitable for routine use. • Critical discussion of the current and emerging capabilities of CE-ICP-MS in the simultaneous detection of chemical species. • Reliable portrait of the most advantageous separation and detection strategies and the method's analytical performance. • The finest selection of real-world applications of CE-ICP-MS from recent literature.