Effect of low concentration sodium dodecyl sulfate on the electromigration of palonosetron hydrochloride stereoisomers in micellar electrokinetic chromatography

•Low concentration SDS reverses the electromigration of PALO stereoisomers.•The migration order between two enantiomeric pairs is also reversed.•Good separations were achieved at appropriate SDS concentration.•The effect of SDS on the electromigration was elucidated.

The effect of low concentrations of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) on the separation of palonosetron hydrochloride (PALO) stereoisomers by micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC) has been investigated. It was found that the addition of SDS prolongs the migration time and the migration order of four stereoisomers changes regularly with the SDS concentration. Good separations for all the four stereoisomers were achieved at appropriate SDS concentration. The effect of SDS on the electromigration (mobilities) of PALO stereoisomers has been studied, in order to explain its effect on the separation by MEKC. It was found that low concentrations of SDS added into the separation media forms negatively charged complexes with PALO stereoisomers and hence reverses their electromigration direction. Furthermore, the migration order between two enantiomeric pairs is also reversed because the enantiomeric pair with a bigger positive mobility than that of another pair turns to have a bigger negative mobility when bound with SDS. Based on these results, the effect of SDS on the MEKC separation of PALO stereoisomers was elucidated reasonably. The performance of the developed chiral MEKC method was validated by the analysis of a real sample.