Development of a Capillary Electrophoretic Method for the Determination of Huperzine A Concentration in Vietnamese Huperzia serrata

Huperzine A, isolated from Huperzia serrata, is a potent, specific, and reversible inhibitor of acetylcholinesterase with high efficiency and low toxicity. To evaluate the presence of huperzine A in Vietnamese H serrata, a reliable capillary zone electrophoresis method was developed. The analytical conditions were established using 80 mM ammonium acetate buffer, pH 6.0, hydrodynamic injection at 50 mbar for 5 s, applied voltage of 20 kV, temperature at 25 °C, uncoated fused-silica capillary, 56 cm (50 cm effective length) × 70 µm inner diameter, and ultraviolet detection at 310 nm. The recovery rates ranged from 98.05% to 100.64%, with a relative standard deviation <2%. Good linear regression was observed in the concentration range of 1 to 500 µg/mL, with a correlation coefficient of 0.9994. The limit of detection and limit of quantification were 0.33 and 1.0 µg/mL, respectively. These results demonstrate that this method is simple, selective, and suitable for performing quality control for huperzine A derived from Vietnamese H serrata.

Simultaneous separation and determination of three huperzine alkaloids in Huperzia serrata and its preparations by cyclodextrin-modified mixed micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography

In this study, a simple and sensitive cyclodextrin-modified mixed micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography (CD-MEKC) method has been developed for the simultaneous separation and determination of Huperzine A (HupA), Huperzine B (HupB) and Huperzine C (HupC) in Huperzia serrata (H. serrata). The optimal conditions (pH 9.3) were composed of 10 mM sodium tetraborate solution, 40 mM sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), 50 mM sodium cholate (SC) and 3.0 mM mono-(6-ethylenediamine-6-deoxy)-β-cyclodextrin (ED-β-CD). The separation and determination process were performed on a P/ACE MDQ capillary electrophoresis system, the separation voltage was 15 kV, the temperature was 25 °C and the detection wavelength was 308 nm. Under the optimum conditions, the migration time was less than 9 min. The LOD and LOQ were between 0.38 and 0.80 μg/mL and 1.2-2.3 μg/mL, respectively. The developed method, with excellent precision and accuracy, was applied for the determination of three alkaloids in H. serrata and its formulations.

Enantiomeric Determination of Drugs in Pharmaceutical Formulations and Biological Samples by Electrokinetic Chromatography

Chirality is a relevant issue in the pharmaceutical field due to the different biological activity that enantiomers of a chiral drug can show. In fact, the desired biological or pharmaceutical activity might be present in only one of the enantiomers, while the other enantiomer(s) may have different biological activity, be inactive or even toxic. This has motivated in recent years the development of drugs marketed as pure enantiomers to avoid exposing the organism to the action of enantiomers that may not be active or even harmful to health. Thus, it is of high interest to develop enantioselective analytical methodologies to control the presence of enantiomeric impurities and to understand the enantioselective metabolism of chiral drugs. This review gives an overview about the analytical strategies developed by electrokinetic chromatography (EKC) from 2010 to June 2019 for the enantiomeric determination of drugs in both pharmaceutical formulations and biological samples. The types of chiral selectors used, the migration order of enantiomers, their resolution, the detection technique employed and the sensitivity achieved are revised and compared. Also, applications to assess the enantiomeric purity control of pharmaceutical formulations and to determine chiral drugs in biological samples to study their metabolism are included. Advantages and limitations of the chiral methods developed by EKC are also discussed.

Separation of amino acid enantiomers by a capillary modified with a metal–organic framework

Covalent bonding of homochiral metal–organic framework in capillaries for amino acid enantiomer separation by capillary electrochromatography.

Advance of CE and CEC in phytochemical analysis (2012–2013)

This article presents an overview of the advance of CE and CEC in phytochemical analysis, based on the literature not mentioned in our previous review papers [Chen, X. J., Zhao, J., Wang, Y. T., Huang, L. Q., Li, S. P., Electrophoresis 2012, 33, 168–179], mainly covering the years 2012–2013. In this article, attention is paid to online preconcentration, rapid separation, and sensitive detection. Selected examples illustrate the applicability of CE and CEC in biomedical, pharmaceutical, environmental, and food analysis. Finally, some general conclusions and future perspectives are given.