Decreasing analysis time in capillary electrophoresis: validation and comparison of quantitative performances in several approaches.

Capillary electrophoresis (CE) can be used for the rapid determination of pharmaceuticals, particularly in routine quality control analysis. This paper focuses on several approaches aimed at decreasing the analysis time with commercially available instrumentation by (i) application of a high electric field through a reduced capillary, (ii) use of a dynamically coated capillary to increase the electroosmotic flow, (iii) short-end injection (SEI) technique, and (iv) application of multiple sample injections. Moreover, SEIs were combined with the three other approaches. A pharmaceutical formulation containing lidocaine as an active component was selected, and the methods were validated according to the ICH guidelines. The seven approaches investigated fulfilled different statistical requirements and demonstrated their linearity and trueness, with good recoveries and confidence limits always inferior to 1.5%. Furthermore, relative standard deviation (RSD) values for repeatability and intermediate precision were inferior to 1.1 and 1.8%, respectively. These results confirmed that each approach is of utmost interest to increase the analyte throughput in CE.