Chiral ionic liquids in chromatographic and electrophoretic separations

• CILs play a key role in enantioselective separation.
• CILs are efficient BGE additives, chiral ligands and chiral stationary phases.
• The future of CILs in separation science is very promising.
• CILs’ use in CE, GC and HPLC is expected to expand substantially.

This report provides an overview of the application of chiral ionic liquids (CILs) in separation technology, and particularly in capillary electrophoresis and both gas and liquid chromatography. There is a large number of CILs that have been synthesized and designed as chiral agents. However, only a few have successfully been applied in separation technology. Even though this application of CILs is still in its early stages, the scientific interest is increasing dramatically. This article is focused on the use of CILs as chiral selectors, background electrolyte additives, chiral ligands and chiral stationary phases in electrophoretic and chromatographic techniques. Different examples of CILs, which contain either a chiral cation, a chiral anion or both, are presented in this review article, and their major advantages along with their potential applications in chiral electrophoretic and chromatographic recognition are discussed.