Separation and simultaneous determination of quinolone antibiotics by capillary zone electrophoresis

The potential of capillary zone electrophoresis has been investigated for the separation and quantitative determination of some quinolone antibiotics. The influence of different conditions, such as the nature and concentration of the electrophoretic electrolyte, on migration time, peak symmetry, efficiency and resolution was studied. A buffer consisting of 100mm HEPES adjusted to pH 8.5 containing 10% (v/v) acetonitrile was found to furnish a very efficient and stable electrophoretic system for the separation of exoxacin, ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin, oxolinic acid, nalidixic acid and pipemedic acid. A linear relationship between concentration and peak area for each compound was obtained in the concentration range 0.25–40 μg mL−1; detection limits were approximately 0.25 ng mL−1. It was demonstrated that the method can be used for the simultaneous determination of these six antibiotics in serum and urine samples.