Separation of Corticosteroids and Aromatic Hydrocarbons by Cyclodextrin-Modified Micellar Electrokinetic Chromatography

Abstract

Micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC) permits the separation of uncharged or electrically neutral compounds by the electrophoretic technique, but highly lipophilic compounds, e.g., corticosteroids and aromatic hydrocarbons could not be resolved by MEKC with sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) solutions because such solutes migrated with almost the same velocity as that of the SDS micelle, owing to their large micellar solubilization. the addition of cyclodextrins (CDs) to the SDS solution, that is, cyclodextrin-modified micellar electrokinetic chromatography (CD/MEKC), remarkably improved the resolution of these lipophilic compounds. the effects of concentration and the type of CDs on the separation of corticosteroids and aromatic hydrocarbons were investigated.