Capillary electrochromatography of three β2-agonists in human urine using a lauryl methacrylate-based monolithic...

A new method of online concentration capillary electrochromatography using a lauryl methacrylate-based monolithic column was developed for determination of three β(2)-agonists including salbutamol, procaterol, and formoterol. The separation parameters including acetonitrile concentration, running buffer pH, and concentration were evaluated. To improve the sensitivity, an online concentration method with combination of the chromatographic zone-sharpening effect and field-enhanced sample-stacking effect has been developed in which the concentration parameters including injection voltage, injection time, as well as sample matrix were systematically studied. Under the optimized conditions, baseline separation of three β(2)-agonists was achieved within 4 min. When compared to the conventional sample injection, this online concentration technique increased their corresponding sensitivities up to 45-, 36-, and 320-fold, respectively. Furthermore, good repeatability was obtained with relative standard deviations (RSDs) for migration times within 0.84% and those for peak areas less than 6.35% (n = 5) in the experiment. The proposed method was successfully applied to the determination of above-mentioned β(2)-agonists in urine sample. The recoveries of spiked urine samples were between 82.4% and 109.1% with RSDs less than 9.97%.