A high-performance capillary electrophoresis (CE) system has been developed for concanavalin A (Con A) and its succinyl derivative (SCA). Under the CE system, the tetramer, trimer, dimer, monomer and protein fragments of CA were separated in less than 50 min. SCA was resolved into more than 10 components which were believed to be isomeric succinyl derivatives of Con A. The CE system is a simple and sensitive analytical technique to profile the composition of Con A and SCA preparations. The minimum concentration of Con A in water detectable by the CE system is 1 microgram ml-1.