Determination of sinomenine in Sinomenium acutum by capillary electrophoresis with electrochemiluminescence detection

A Ru(bpy)32+-based electrochemiluminescence (ECL) detection coupled with capillary electrophoresis (CE) has been established for the determination of sinomenine for the first time. Optimum separation was achieved with a fused-silica capillary column (50 cm × 25 (mu)m i.d.) and a background electrolyte of 50 mM sodium phosphate (pH 5.0) at a separation voltage of 15 kV. The content of sinomenine was detected by ECL at the detection voltage of 1.15 V (versus Ag/AgCl) with 5 mM Ru(bpy)32+ in 75 mM phosphate solution (pH 8.0) when a chemically modified platinum electrode by europium(III)-doped prussian blue analogue (Eu-PB) was used as a working electrode. Under the optimized conditions, the ECL intensity was in proportion to sinomenine concentration in the range from 0.01 to 1.0 (mu)g mL^-1 with a detection limit of 2.0 ng mL^-1 (3(sigma)). The relative standard derivations of migration time and ECL intensity were 0.93 and 1.11%, respectively. The level of sinomenine in Sinomenium acutum Rehd. et Wils was easily determined with recoveries between 98.6 and 102.7%.