Multivariate calibration methods for quantification in strongly overlapping capillary electrophoretic peaks

Capillary zone electrophoresis with diode-array detection was applied to th e separation of ebrotidine and its metabolites. However, three of these, wh ich are neutral in the conditions studied, co-migrated with the electroosmo tic flow signal. Therefore, strongly overlapping peaks were observed. The m ain aim of this study was to show the potentiality of capillary electrophor esis in combination with chemometrics. Multivariate calibration methods wer e applied to quantify these analytes in synthetic mixtures. The results obt ained using partial least squares (PLS) were in agreement with actual value s, with an overall prediction error of 9.7%. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.