Capillary electrophoresis method for the determination of isradipine enantiomers: stability studies and pharmaceutical formulation analysis

A simple enantioselective method based on CE using CD as chiral selector was developed and validated for the determination of isradipine (IRD) enantiomers in a pharmaceutical formulation and for the determination of IRD enantiomers in degradation studies. After optimization, the best results were obtained using 15 mM borate buffer at pH 9.3 and sulfobutyl ether-β-cyclodextrin (2.5%, w/v) as chiral selector. The applied voltage was +30 kV, and the sample injection was performed in the hydrodynamic mode. All analyses were carried out in a fused-silica uncoated capillary with an id of 50 μm and total length of 60.0 cm. Under these conditions, a complete separation between IRD enantiomers was achieved in less than 7 min. Linearity was obtained in the range 50-300 μg/mL for both enantiomers (r≥0.9978). The RSD (%) and relative errors (%) obtained in precision and accuracy studies (intra-day and inter-day) were lower than 5%. Therefore, this method was found to be appropriate for controlling pharmaceutical formulations containing IRD enantiomers and the assay was considered to be stability indicating. The drug was subjected to oxidation, hydrolysis and photolysis. In all stress conditions the drug presented considerable degradation when compared with a fresh sample (zero time).