Comparison of Micellar Electrokinetic Capillary Chromatography and High-Performance Liquid Chromatography on the Separation and Determination of Caffeine and Its Analogues in Pharmaceutical Tablets

Abstract Micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography (MEKC) is investigated for the separation and determination of caffeine and its analogues as a complementary method to high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Separation efficiency, resolution, analysis time, sample recovery and reproducibility are examined by comparing MEKC and HPLC in parallel analysis. The results show that MEKC is a useful economic technique in pharmaceutical analysis, yielding high efficiency, resolution and short analysis times.