USE OF HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHY AS AN EXTRACTION PROCEDURE FOR ANALYSIS OF TRIAZOLAM IN DECOMPOSED HUMAN MUSCLE BY GAS-CHROMATOGRAPHY MASS-SPECTROMETRY

A reliable and sensitive method for the determination of triazolam in human muscle using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) is des cribed. The drug was extracted from decomposed human muscle using thre e-step liquid-liquid extraction and HPLC which was performed isocratic ally on a conventional ODS column with a mobile phase of 0.01 M phosph ate buffer (pH 6.5)-acetonitrile (7:3). Estazolam was used as an inter nal standard. GC-MS analysis was performed on a DB-5 capillary column. Excellent linearity was obtained over the concentration range 1-200 n g/g. The lower limit of detection was approximately 0.5 ng/g. Forensic application of the present method was also described. (C) 1997 Elsevi er Science B.V.