Application of Capillary Electrophoresis to Analysis of Tricyclic Psychotropic Drugs

Two separation modes of capillary electrophoresis (CE): capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) and micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography (MECC) were used for toxicological analysis of blood samples and pharmaceutical preparations. These two techniques were tested on commonly used phenothiazines (PHE) and tricyclic antidepressants (TCA), which are drugs of forensic interest. The analytical potential of CZE and MECC was exemplified by the separation of four-drug mixtures added to blood and single-drug analyses of pharmaceuticals. The detection limit for promazine in blood and repeatability of identification parameters (standard deviations of relative migration times) for desipramine in a pharmaceutical preparation and promazine in blood samples were determined.