[Determination of gabapentin using capillary electrophoresis with laser-induced fluorescence detection]

A novel method for the determination of gabapentin (an antiepileptic drug) has been developed using capillary electrophoresis with laser-induced fluorescence detection (LIFD). Gabapentin was first derived by 4-chloro-7-nitrobenzofurazan (NBD-Cl) and baseline separated within 6 min with a running buffer consisting of 10 mmol/L borate sodium and 10 mmol/L sodium dodecyl sulfate (pH 9.75). The linear range of this method was 0.01-10 mg/L (r = 0.9997) with the limit of detection (LOD) of 2 microg/L and the limit of quantification (LOQ) of 10 microg/L. The average recoveries were 100.2%-103.1% with the relative standard deviation (RSD) of 0.15%-1.00%. This method is fast, sensitive, accurate and reliable, and it has been used successfully for the quality assessment of gabapentin drug products.