Abstract: A new micro high performance liquid chromatographic( μ-HPLC) method for highly selective separation and determination of caffeine was described. In this method, a molecularly imprinted capillary monolithic column prepared by in situ polymerization inside a ultraviolet transparent fused silica capillary using caffeine as template molecule was used. Several factors affecting the column performances in the preparation procedure were investigated and the chromatographic separation conditions were optimized. The results show that the obtained columns exhibit high resolution of 2.57 for separation of caffeine and its structural analogues. It has been applied to the determination of caffeine in greentea beverage, pepsi-cola and pharmaceutical tablets with satisfactory results
Template and target information: caffeine