The separation and determination of nitrophenol isomers by high-performance capillary zone electrophoresis

o-Nitrophenol, m-nitrophenol, and p-nitrophenol could well be separated by capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) by only adjusting the run buffer with methanol. Efficiency up to 105 theoretical plates per meter was achieved. The effects of several important factors were investigated to find optimum conditions. The linear range, regression equation, and the recovery were given. This method possessed the advantages of simplicity, rapidity, and good reproducibility; it can be developed for the separation of practical samples in environment analysis.