The components of the aminoglycosides, e.g., gentamicin, sisomicin, netilmicin, kanamycin, amikacin, and tobramycin, and related impurities of these antibiotics can be separated by means of micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC). Derivatization witho-phthaldialdehyde and thioglycolic acid is found to be appropriate for all antibiotics. The background electrolyte was composed of sodium tetraborate (100 mM), sodium deoxycholate (20 mM), and β-cyclodextrin (15 mM) and has a pH value of 10.0. This method is valid for evaluation of gentamicin, kanamycin, and tobramycin. It has yet to be adopted for amikacin, paramomycin, neomycin, and netilmicin.
