Chiral Separation and Detection of Terbutaline and Ephedrine by Capillary Electrophoresis Coupled with Ion Spray Mass Spectrometry

The enantiomers of both terbutaline and ephedrine were separated by capillary electrophoresis using electrolyte solutions of heptakis(2,6-di-O-methyl)-β-cyclodextrin in low pH buffers. The analytes were detected by ion spray mass spectrometry using selected ion monitoring or by selected reaction monitoring in the positive ion mode. Both the free drug enantiomers and the noncovalent enantiomer-cyclodextrin inclusion complexes for terbutaline can be detected simultaneously using this method. The feasibility of using CE/MS for chiral purity determination is demonstrated. In addition, a comparison of UV detection versus mass spectrometry detection for a spiked urine sample is included to demonstrate the selectivity and sensitivity advantages of the mass spectrometer as a CE detector.