Quantitation of caffeine by capillary zone electrophoresis with end-column amperometric detection at a carbon microdisk array electrode

Abstract

Capillary zone electrophoresis is employed for the determination of caffeine using end-column amperometric detection with a carbon fiber microdisk array electrode at a constant potential of 1.45 V versus a saturated calomel electrode. The optimum conditions of separation and detection are 0.152mM NaH2PO4-0.648mM Na2HPO4 for the buffer solution, 20 kV for the separation voltage, 5 kV for the injection voltage, and 10 s for the injection time. The limit of detection is 2.9 x 10-4mM or 1.2 fmol (signal-to-noise ratio = 2). The relative standard deviation is 0.68% for the migration time and 2.3% for the electrophoretic peak current. The method is applied to determining caffeine in human serum and a cola drink.