Lypophilic micelles

As detailed in Chapter 3 by Terabe, micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC) is a useful technique in the retention analysis of water-soluble compounds. The separation and analysis of lypophilic analytes, however, may be difficult in MEKC due to the strong affinity of lypophilic compounds to the micelle resulting in long separation times and poor resolution. An interesting approach for the simultaneous analysis of water- and fat-soluble vitamins by microemulsion electrokinetic chromatography (MEEKC) was proposed by Sanchez. The separation of both water- and fat-soluble vitamins (Bi, B2, B3, Be, B12, C, A palmitate, D, E acetate, and K) was obtained when the microemulsion was prepared with sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) as the surfactant, octane as the nonpolar modifier, butanol as the cosurfactant, and propanol as the second cosurfactant. Complete separation of all vitamins was carried out within 55 min however, this approach was tested only in multivitamin formulation. 

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