Rapid separation of tetracycline derivatives and their main degradation products by capillary zone electrophoresis.

A mixture of five tetracycline (TC) derivatives: minocycline (MC), demeclocycline (DMCTC), doxycycline (DC), and sancycline (SC), as well as each TC derivative from its main degradation product were separated by capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE). The influence of the pH and the concentration and nature of the background electrolyte (BGE) on the separations was investigated. Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA; 1 mM) was used as additive in a 25 mM phosphate buffer (pH 2.3) because this BGE enabled the rapid separation of the TC derivatives and of each TC derivative from its respective degradation product in less than 6 min. After optimization of the separation conditions, the analytical characteristics of the method were investigated. The parameters involved were linearity, precision (repeatability and reproducibility), and limits of detection (LODs). LODs obtained for the five TC derivatives studied were about 3 microg/mL. Finally, the CZE method developed was applied to study the stability of TC derivatives and to analyze the TC derivative content in three different pharmaceutical preparations.