A capillary zone electrophoresis method was developed for the determination of NiII(3-OMe-salophene), a substance with anticancer activity in vitro. A fused silica capillary (56 cm × 100 µm) was used for this purpose. The method was optimized in terms of parameters affecting the electrophoretic conditions in order to optimize separation efficiency and total time of migration. The analysis was best performed using an operating buffer of 50 mM borate, adjusted to pH 9.3, mixed with acetonitrile (50%, v/v) as organic modifier. Injections were performed hydrodynamically by applying a pressure of 50 mbar for 8 s, and a 30 kV separation voltage was selected at 25 °C. Detection was carried out at 250 nm using diode array detector (DAD). The method allowed the separation of NiII(3-OMe-salophene) from four other structurally related impurities in a total migration time (tm) of 8 min. Peak identification was achieved using the standard reference of individual impurities. The purity of the migrated NiII(3-OMe-salophene) was confirmed by Ultra-violet (UV) scan overlay depending on DAD. The linear ranges for the determination of NiII(3-OMe-salophene) was 400–20,000 ng mL−1 with limit of detection (LOD) of 120 ng mL−1. Acceptable intra-day and inter-day precisions were achieved (%relative standard deviation (RSD) results were less than 0.76% and 0.30%, respectively). The proposed method was assessed for greenness and compared to reported methodologies to prove superiority.
