Selectivity of capillary electrophoresis for the analysis of cardiovascular drugs

Examples of several classes of cardiovascular drugs have been separated using capillary electrophoresis and its associated application, micellar electrokinetic chromatography. The therapeutic classes of drag investigated include beta-blockers, antiarrhythmic, calcium channel antagonists and angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors. The exceptional selectivity of capillary electrophoresis is demonstrated using conditions that separate some twenty cardiovascular drugs in a single mixture, including all the aforementioned classes of drugs. The compounds have unrelated structures and varying molecular masses and yet are still resolved using a single set of conditions. The application of such selectivity is discussed together with a comparison with high-performance liquid chromatography.