Ultrasensitive determination of epicatechin, rutin, and quercetin by capillary electrophoresis chemiluminescence

An ultrasensitive and rapid method for the determination of epicatechin, rutin, and quercetin was developed using capillary zone electrophoresis with on-line chemiluminescence detection. Under the optimal conditions, the analytes were baseline separated within 12 min. The limits of detection in turn were 0.60 pg mL-1 for epicatechin, 0.50 pg mL-1 for rutin, and 1.0 pg mL-1 for quercetin. The developed method was an easy and reliable method of determining these analytes concentrations in tea, extract Ginkgo biloba, and rutin tablet, demonstrating the feasibility and reliability of the proposed method.