Determination of (2,3-epoxypropyl)trimethylammonium chloride, (3-chloro-2-hydroxypropyl)trimethylammonium chloride, and (2,3-dihydroxypropyl)trimethylammonium chloride by capillary electrophoresis

Capillary electrophoresis (CE) is a powerful technique to determine (2,3-epoxypropyl)trimethylammonium chloride, (3-chloro-2-hydroxypropyl)trimethylammonium chloride and their hydrolysis product (2,3-dihydroxypropyl)trimethylammonium chloride in complex matrices. The separation was performed in a 180 mM copper(II) sulphate–4 mM formic acid buffer at pH 3. The UV inactive target compounds were detected by indirect UV detection at 215 nm with a reference wavelength of 300 nm—copper(II) being the chromophor. The results were compared to data acquired by ion-pair HPLC with perchlorate as ion pair former in a 1 M aqueous sodium perchlorate solution in 0.2 mM phosphoric acid (pH 3.4) on a RP 18 column and refractive index detection as reference method. Results of both methods are in good agreement.