Chiral separation of econazole using micellar electrokinetic chromatography with hydroxypropyl-γ-cyclodextrin

A cyclodextrin-modified micellar electrokinetic chromatography (CD-MEKC) method with hydroxypropyl-γ-cyclodextrin (HP-γ-CD) as chiral selector for the enantiomeric separation of econazole is reported. Enantioseparation of econazole was successfully achieved by the optimized CD-MEKC system containing 40 mM HP-γ-CD, 50 mM SDS and 20 mM phosphate buffer (pH 8) solution with an analysis time of less than 9 min. Calibration curves were linear for the two stereoisomers of econazole (r2 > 0.998). Good repeatabilities in the migration time, peak area and peak height were obtained in terms of RSD% ranging from 0.30 to 7.67%. Combination of solid-phase extraction (SPE) procedure using diol column and the CD-MEKC method was successfully applied to the determination of econazole in a formulated cream sample.