In-capillary derivatization with fluorescamine for the rapid determination of adamantane drugs by capillary electrophoresis with UV detection

In-capillary derivatization using fluorescamine as the labeling reagent was proposed to enhance the detectability of adamantine drugs (memantine, amantadine and rimantadine) by spectrophotometric detection. Fluorescamine and the drugs were delivered to the capillary electrophoresis instrument at a ratio of 10:1 by zone injection. The derivatization reaction occurred following the application of voltage (20 kV). The derivatized products, hydrolyzed- fluorescamine and excess fluorescamine were separated in 7 min using 100 mM borate buffer (pH 10.0) containing 0.1% w/v of Brij®-35 and 20% v/v of acetonitrile. Validation data showed good linearity (r² > 0.98), precision (%RSDs < 3.4), and accuracy (recoveries ranging from 98.0 to 102.0%). The detection and quantitation limits are in the range of 6.0–8.5 and 18–25 μM, respectively. The validation data is comparable to reported methods, however, the current method offers better precision with enhanced sensitivity (up to six times). Applications of the method show percent labeled amounts found in the studied samples within 100.6–109.3%, which complied with the United States Pharmacopeia limit (90.0–110.0%). The method was simple, rapid and, automated, which required no extra instrumentation or skillful operators.