Determination of ephedrine and related compounds in pharmaceutical preparations by ion chromatography with direct conductivity detection

✍ Scribed by Jin Ouyang; Xiaoyin Gao; Willy R.G. Baeyens; Joris R. Delanghe

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2005
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 185 KB
• Volume: 19
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0269-3879
• DOI: 10.1002/bmc.448

✦ Synopsis

An ion chromatographic method with conductivity detection for the simultaneous determination of ephedrine, pseudoephedrine and norephedrine was developed. A mixture of 2.0 mmol/L HNO3 and 2% (v/v) acetonitrile was used as eluent. The three ephedrine-like compounds were separated and determined within 20 min. The linear ranges were 0.08-50 microg/mL for ephedrine, 0.08-40 microg/mL for pseudoephedrine and 0.06-40 microg/mL for norephedrine. The detection limits were 0.03 microg/mL for ephedrine and pseudoephedrine, and 0.02 microg/mL for norephedrine. The method has been applied successfully to the determination of these sympathomimetics in pharmaceutical preparations and in Ephedra herbs.