Evaluation of non-aqueous capillary zone electrophoresis for the determination of histamine H2 receptor antagonists in pharmaceuticals.

A new non-aqueous capillary electrophoresis method is proposed for the separation and simultaneous determination of cimetidine, ranitidine, roxatidine, nizatidine and famotidine by using a 30-cm long × 75 µm i.d. fused silica capillary and UV detection at 214 nm. Using a temperature of 25°C, an applied voltage of 15 kV, and a background electrolyte consisting of methanol containing 10 mM ammonium acetate and 0.2% acetic acid allowed the analytes to be separated in less than 4 min. The limits of detection obtained ranged from 7 and 17 µg L(-1). The proposed method was successfully used to determine the analytes in pharmaceutical preparations and its results were checked against an HPLC method.