A sensitive and selective capillary electrophoresis method is developed, for the first time, for effective separation and simultaneous determination of aminomethylbezoic acid (PAMBA), cefminox sodium (CMNX) and etamsylate (ETM). The electrophoresis conditions were investigated and optimized. A 25 mM phosphate solution (pH 8.5) was used as a buffer and the peak area was determined with UV detection at 216 nm wavelength under 18 kV separation voltage. Under optimal conditions, the three drugs can be separated effectively. Good linearity was achieved in 3.13-150 microg/mL for PAMBA, 6.25-150 microg/mL for CMNX and 3.13-150 microg/mL for ETM, with the correlation coefficients of >0.999. The limit of detection (LOD) for PAMBA, CMNX and ETM was 1.04, 2.08 and 1.04 microg/mL, respectively. Their recoveries in human urine were in the range from 90.2% to 101% with the RSD (n=5) of 0.7-3.1%. The proposed method is simple, rapid and accurate, and provides the sensitivity and linearity necessary for analysis of the test drugs in human urine at clinically relevant concentrations.Copyright 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
