Enantioselective analysis of pheniramine in urine by charged CD-mediated CZE provided with a fiber-based DAD and an on-line sample pretreatment by capillary ITP

Application potentialities of CZE on-line coupled with capillary ITP and DAD to the identification and determination of trace concentration levels (microg/L) of pheniramine (PHM) enantiomers and their metabolites present in complex ionic matrices of biological origin (urine) are shown. An enhanced (enantio)selectivity of the CZE separation system obtained by the addition of carboxyethyl-beta-CD (CE-beta-CD) to the carrier electrolyte provided CZE conditions for a reliable identification of similar/identical DAD spectra of structurally related compounds (PHM enantiomers and their metabolites) in clinical urine samples differing in qualitative and quantitative composition of sample matrix constituents. A high sample loadability (a 30 microL sample injection volume), partial sample clean-up (removing macroconstituents from the sample), and preconcentration of the analytes in ITP stage resulted in the decrease of concentration LOD for PHM enantiomers in urine to 5.2 and 6.8 microg/L (2.2 x 10(-8) and 2.8 x 10(-8) mol/L), without using any sample pretreatment technique. The background correction and smoothing procedure applied to the raw DAD spectra provided analytically relevant DAD spectra of PHM enantiomers and their metabolites also when they were present in urine sample (30 microL injection volumes of ten-times diluted urine sample) at a 9 x 10(-) (8) mol/L concentration. DAD spectra of PHM enantiomers present in urine samples matched their reference spectra with reasonable certainties. DAD spectra of PHM metabolites were compared with the reference spectra of PHM enantiomers and a good match was found which indicates the similarities in the structures of enantiomers and their metabolites detected in the urine samples. This fact allows performing the quantitative analyses of PHM metabolites in the urine samples by applying the calibration parameters of PHM enantiomers also for PHM metabolites and the results show the possibilities of using the ITP-CZE-DAD combination for the direct analysis of PHM enantiomers and/or their metabolites in urine without any sample pretreatment. ITP-CZE-DAD method with oppositely charged selector is suggested to use in clinical research as it provides favorable performance parameters including sensitivity, linearity, precision, recovery, and robustness with minimal demands on sample preparation.