Capillary electrophoresis and related techniques in the determination of drugs of abuse and their metabolites

Nowadays, so-called drugs of abuse (DOAs) are widely used and pose an undeniable problem at a social level. These compounds have incalculable consequences for society, such as the cost of medical treatment, higher incidence of criminality and economic repercussions. Innovative, modern separation and determination techniques are therefore required for analysis of DOAs. In this work, we review methods based on capillary electrophoresis applied to the determination of illicit drugs and new psychoactive substances in different kinds of matrix, published between 2007 and 2015. We critically discuss the main strengths and weaknesses of all of these approaches by means of relevant applications in clinical practice, forensics, pharmacokinetics, metabolic monitoring and environmental analyses. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.