Simultaneous determination of chlordiazepoxide and selected antidepressants using CZE

A simple CE method was developed and validated for the simultaneous determination of chlordiazepoxide (CHL), amitriptyline, and nortriptyline (mixture I) or the determination of CHL and imipramine (mixture II) using the same BGE. Sertraline and amitriptyline were used as internal standards for the first and second mixtures, respectively. The method allows amitriptyline to be completely separated from its impurity and main metabolite nortriptyline, which can be quantified from 0.2 μg/mL. The separation was achieved using 20 mM potassium phosphate buffer pH 5 containing 12 mM β-cyclodextrin and 1 mM carboxymethyl-β-cyclodextrin. UV detection was performed at 200 nm and a voltage of 15 kV was applied on an uncoated fused-silica capillary at 25°C. These experimental conditions allowed separation of the compounds to be obtained in 7 min. Calibration graphs proved the linearity up to 40 μg/mL for CHL, up to 100 μg/mL for amitriptyline and imipramine, and up to 5 μg/mL for nortriptyline. The accuracy and precision of the method have been determined by analyzing synthetic mixtures and pharmaceutical formulations. The analytical results were quite good in all cases indicating that the method was linear, sensitive, precise, accurate, and selective for both mixtures.