ADVANCES IN DRUG ANALYSIS BY KINETIC METHODS

Automatic kinetic methods are powerful tools for drug analysis as they use modern instrumentation and computers, which are essential for sho rtening analysis times and enhancing the quality of routine analyses. This paper reviews novel kinetic approaches to the determination of va rious types of drugs in bio(pharmaceutical) materials including the fo llowing: (a) a combination of the stopped-flow (SF) technique and fluo rescence polarization immunoassay for the determination of drugs of ab use and opiates in urine; (b) the joint use of the SF technique and mi celle-stabilized room-temperature phosphorimetry for the determination of anti-inflammatory drugs such as naproxen; (c) the use of sensitize d luminescence by energy transfer processes for the kinetic determinat ion of antibiotics such as tetracycline using the SF technique; and (d ) the use of the continous addition of reagent technique for determini ng hallucinogenic alkaloids and phenothiazines by peroxyoxalate chemil uminescence reactions. Other advances in drug analysis by kinetic meth ods involving kinetometric approaches (e.g, Kalman filtering) and the use of micellar catalysis are also discussed.