Ten purine and pyrimidine bases were separated using capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) with direct UV detection at 254 nm as well as mass spectrometric (MS) detection using an electrospray ionization (ESI) interface. For this purpose a carrier electrolyte composition compatible with both methods of detection containing 300mM diethylamine (DEA) was selected. Limits of detection were in the range between 0.1 and 0.3 mg l(-1) and calibration plots were found to be linear over at least two orders of magnitude. The applicability of the developed method for the analysis of real samples was demonstrated for some beer samples. A series of "Lager" beer samples from different breweries in Europe as well as a number of completely different types of beers were investigated with respect to their content in the selected purine and pyrimidine bases using the developed CE method with UV detection at 254 run. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.