Separation and determination of aloperine, sophoridine, matrine and oxymatrine by combination of flow injection with microfluidic capillary electrophoresis

A novel, rapid and accurate method for the separation and determination of aloperine (ALP), sophoridine (SRI), matrine (MT) and oxymatrine (OMT) has been developed by combination of flow injection (FI) with microfluidic capillary electrophoresis (CE) for the first time. In the present paper, a continuous sample introduction interface was described. The interface with an H-channel structure was produced using a non-lithographic approach. The H-channel structure was fixed on a planar plastic base utilizing a horizontal 6.5 cm-long separation capillary with two vertical sidearm tubes on each end that served as inlet and outlet flow-through electrode reservoirs. The inlet reservoir also functioned as interface for coupling to the FI system. The buffer solution used was a 50 mmol l−1 borate solution with the pH adjusted to 8.80 with 2 mol l−1 HCl. The performance of the system was demonstrated in the separation and determination of ALP, SRI, MT and OMT with UV detection at 215 nm, achieving baseline separation within 2 min. A series of samples was injected repeatedly without current interruption and subsequent rinsing, and the contents of these four bio-alkaloids in two marketed drugs were determined with satisfactory recovery by this proposed method.