[Determination of chondroitin sulfate in food supplements by capillary zone electrophoresis]

Chondroitin sulfate is widely used as an ingredient in food supplements. A method of capillary zone electrophoresis for qualitative and quantitative analysis of chondroitin sulfate in food supplements has been developed. The system of capillary electrophoresis Agilent 3D CE (USA) with diode array detector (spectral range 190-400 nm, 192 nm was used to quantity), quartz capillary Agilent with effective length 56 cm (USA) (internal diameter 50 microm, temperature 25 degrees C, 30 kV, negative polarity) and 50 mM phosphate buffer (pH 3.5) has been used. Quantity limit of this method was 0.5 g/kg. It was used for determination of content of chondroitin sulfate in 14 food supplements. The chondroitin sulfate was detected in all test samples with deviation from the declared content (25-600 mg per capsule or tablet) at the level of 1 to 9%. The applicability of the elaborated method for assessing of food supplements quality has been shown.