ABSTRACT
This paper describes the development of an electrophoretic method used to analyse diuretics, and its use in the analysis of pharmaceutical formulations. Chlorthalidone, furosemide, hydrochlorothiazide and triamterene were separated in 5 min by micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography using a carrier containing sodium dodecylsulphate as surfactant, and were subsequently detected spectrophotometrically using a diode-array detector. The limits of detection (S/N=3) were in all cases less than 1.2 mugml(-1) for all compounds. Satisfactory repeatability was obtained for migration times (<1.6%) and corrected peak areas (<5.3%) in the analysis of pharmaceutical formulations. The reproducibility was less than 4% for all samples tested. The average recoveries obtained, which ranged between 97 and 100%, testify to the accuracy of the proposed method.