Separation of ADAM derivatives of carnitine and acyl carnitines by capillary electrophoresis

The separation of carnitine, acetylcarnitine and palmitoylcarnitine as ADAM (9-anthryldiazomethane) derivatives was performed using capillary electrophoresis. A buffer system with 90% methanol and various amounts of phosphoric acid and micelle forming SDS was optimized with respect to the best resolution of the carnitine derivatives. A detection limit of 10 mu mol/l or 32 ng carnitine was determined by laser induced fluorescence detection. Under optimized conditions low carnitine contents in acylcarnitine standards have been determined.