Method development for the separation of steroids by capillary electrochromatography

A rapid capillary electrochromatog. (CEC) method was developed to sep. five structurally related steroid compds. from the prodn. line of steroid hormones. The sepn. was performed on a Hypersil C8 MOS and Unimicro C18 stationary phases using acetonitrile (ACN), methanol (MeOH), and THF as org. modifiers and tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane (Tris) as buffer additive. The Hypersil C8 MOS stationary phase performed best together with ACN as org. modifier and Tris buffer. The method was extensively tested for ruggedness with respect to sensitivity to temp., ACN compn., pH change, concn. of Tris buffer, injected plug length, and run-to-run and day-to-day repeatability. The minimal detectable concn. and amt. were investigated for quantification purposes. The developed CEC method was shown to be fast, rugged, and well suited for quantification of the steroids under study. [on SciFinder (R)]