Achiral and chiral determination of tramadol and its metabolites in urine by capillary electrophoresis

An achiral and chiral separation for the determination of tramadol and its main metabolite O-demethyltramadol in urine samples by CE with UV detection was developed. It was possible to separate tramadol and its phase I and phase II metabolites in one single run using a berate buffer. Furthermore, the simultaneous chiral separation of tramadol and the phase I metabolites was achieved using carboxymethyl-beta-cyclodextrin as chiral selector. To reach the required limits of quantification for the analytes, a preconcentration by solid-phase extraction for the achiral assay and by liquid-liquid extraction for the chiral assay was used. The methods were validated and their applicability was shown by the determination of tramadol and O-demethyltramadol in urine samples.