Simultaneous Chiral Separation of Four H1-Antihistamines by Capillary Zone Electrophoresis Using a Dual Cyclodextrin System

Capillary zone electrophoresis employing a dual cyclodextrin (CD) system, consisting of anionic sulfobutylether-β-CD and native β-CD, was developed for the simultaneous chiral separation of four H1-antihistamine racemates (brompheniramine, chlorpheniramine, cetirizine and promethazine). A cost-effective screening using different native and derivatized, neutral and ionized CDs as chiral selectors was performed to find suitable derivatives for the dual CD system. Under the optimized conditions consisting of 25 mM phosphate background electrolyte at pH 7.0, a combination of 15 mM SBE-β-CD and 10 mM β-CD as chiral selectors, +25 kV applied voltage and 20 °C system temperature, the baseline chiral separation of all racemates was accomplished in less than 8 min. The method proved to be suitable for routine analysis, since it provided satisfactory results during sensitivity, linearity and repeatability studies.