A new capillary electrophoresis (CE) method using carboxymethyl-β-cyclodextrin (CM-β-CD) as chiral selector has been developed for the enantiomeric separation of meptazinol and its three intermediate enantiomers (intermediates II-IV), and validated for the application of quantitative determination of meptazinol in tablets. The primary factors affecting the separation efficiency, which include the chiral selector and its concentration, the buffer pH and composition, the organic modifiers used, and the applied voltage, were optimized. Baseline and satisfactory separations were obtained for meptazinol and its three intermediate enantiomers. For quantitative analysis of meptazinol, the method was performed at the condition using 2.0 mmol/L CM-β-CD in 20 mmol/L H3 PO4 buffer adjusted to a pH of 6.00 with an applied voltage of 15 kV and containing 5% acetonitrile. After validation of the method in terms of its linearity, limits of detection and quantitation, accuracy, precision and selectivity, the method was successfully applied to the quantitation of meptazinol in pharmaceutical formulations.
Keywords: capillary electrophoresis; enantiomeric separation; meptazinol and its three intermediates; quantitative analysis.
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