Miniaturisation: a well-defined trend in separation and preconcentration techniques Review Article

An overview of the state-of-the-art on miniaturisation concerning the different types of separation techniques is presented. Four groups of these techniques can be distinguished: 1. • Chromatographic techniques, including capillary electrophoresis; 2. • non-chromatographic continuous separation techniques; 3. • discontinuous separation techniques and 4. • coupled techniques. The shortcomings encountered in the development of these techniques and the advantages and disadvantages are discussed in this paper.