Advantages of capillary electrophoresis for determination of choline in pharmaceutical preparations.

Assay of choline in pharmaceutical preparations was realized by capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) coupled with indirect UV detection. The suitability of several background electrolytes was investigated to optimize the separation of choline from other components such as amino acids, betaine and cations. Final operating conditions were as follows: a 75 microns x 50 cm uncoated fused-silica capillary with an electrolyte consisting of 5 mM creatinine pH 3.2, a voltage of 25 kV, a temperature of 25 degrees C and an UV detection at 210 nm. Choline migrates in less than 5 min and full selectivity vs other analytes was achieved. Validation data compared with those obtained with HPLC demonstrated the interest of CZE.