ABSTRACT
The viability of nonaqueous capillary electrophoresis (NACE) was investigated for the simultaneous determination of tamoxifen, imipramine and their main metabolites (4-hydroxytamoxifen and desipramine, respectively). Baseline separation of the studied solutes was obtained on a 57cm x 75mum capillary using a nonaqueous solution composed of 17mM ammonium acetate and 1.25% acetic acid in 80:20 (v:v) methanol-acetonitrile, temperature and voltage 22 degrees C and 15kV, respectively, and hydrodynamic injection. Paroxetine was used as internal standard. Different aspects including linearity, accuracy, ruggedness and precision was studied. Detection limits between 9.0 and 15.0mugL(-1) were obtained for all the studied compounds. The developed method is simple, rapid and sensitive and has been used to determine tamoxifen, imipramine and their metabolites at clinically relevant levels in human urine. Before NACE determination, a solid phase extraction (SPE) procedure with a C(18) cartridge was necessary. Real determination of these analytes in three females urines were done.
