Determination of ephedrine alkaloids by capillary electrophoresis

A simple and rapid method for the simultaneous determination of six ephedrine alkaloids (ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, norephedrine, norpseudoephedrine, methylephedrine and methylpseudoephedrine) in Ephedrae herba by capillary electrophoresis was developed. A buffer solution that contained 0.005 M barium hydroxide and 0.02 M isoleucine and adjusted to pH 10.0 with ammonia solution was found to be the most suitable electrolyte for this separation. The contents of the six alkaloids in the crude drug of Ephedrae herba could be easily determined.