Abstract: The amperometric detection of bambuterol and its metabolite in rat serum following their separation by capillary electrophoresis is described in this paper. A carbon disk electrode used as working electrode for two analytes exhibited a good response at 1.10 V (vs. Ag/AgCl). The optimal conditions of separation and detection were pH 7.0 phosphate buffer solution (0.02 mol·L^-1 ), 10 kV for separation voltage. The peak current versus concentration was linear over the range of 2.0×10^-5~5.0×10^-7mol·L^-1for bambuterol and 2.0×10^-6~5.0×10^-8mol·L^-1for terbutaline. The detection limits for bambuterol and terbutaline were 2.5×10^-7mol·L^-1and 2.0×10^-8mol·L^-1respectively. This method was successfully applied to the determination of bambuterol and its active metabolite in rat serum.

Key words: amperometric detection, bambuterol, terbutaline, capillary electrophoresis, amperometric detection, bambuterol, terbutaline