MICELLAR ELECTROKINETIC CAPILLARY CHROMATOGRAPHY OF 3 NATURAL VITAMIN-A DERIVATIVES

Micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC) using bile salts has bee n employed to separate retinoids differing in structure and charge; bi le salts in MEKC allows the separation of liposoluble molecules but, t o the best of our knowledge, there are only few data on the above-ment ioned technique for the separation of highly hydrophobic compounds. Th e three natural vitamin A derivatives, retinal, retinol and retinoic a cid, were successfully separated by MEKC using sodium cholate within a relatively short time (ca. 25 min), whereas the separation of these c ompounds was not successful using sodium dodecyl sulfate or sodium deo xycholate. Several parameters (pH and organic modifiers, in addition t o bile salts concentration) have been tested to provide a system that can be extended to synthetic retinoids, which are often used in treati ng several diseases, including cancer prevention and therapy.