Separation of cold medicine ingredients by capillary electrophoresis.

This study demonstrates the separation of cold medicine ingredients (e.g., phenylpropanolamine, dextromethorphan, chlorpheniramine maleate, and paracetamol) by capillary zone electrophoresis and micellar electrokinetic chromatography. Factors affecting their separations were the buffer pH and the concentrations of buffer, surfactant and organic modifiers. Optimum results were obtained with a 10 mM sodium dihydrogen-phosphate-sodium tetraborate buffer containing 50 mM sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and 5% methanol (MeOH), pH 9.0. The carrier electrolyte gave a baseline separation of phenylpropanolamine, dextromethorphan, chlorpheniramine maleate, and paracetamol with a resolution of 1.2, and the total migration time was 11.38 min.