ASSAY OF DITIOCARB SODIUM AND ITS METHYL-ESTER IN MOUSE PLASMA BY COLUMN-SWITCHING HPLC

AIM: To establish a column-switching high pressure liquid chromatograp y (CSHPLC) with direct injection for determination of ditiocarb sodium (DTC) and its methyl ester (DTC-Me) in mouse plasma. METHODS: After a utomated online pretreating column enrichment and clear-up, DTC-Me was flushed and chromatographed on an ordinary reversed-phase analytical column, and monitored by UV at lambda(absorption) = 276 nm. DTC was me thylated before determination. RESULTS: No potential interfering peaks were identified. The calibration curves of both analytes were linear within the range of 0.1 - 150 mg . L(-1). The correlation coefficients of DTC and DTG-Me were 0.9998 and 0.9995, respectively. The detection limit was 25 mu g . L(-1) and the coefficient of variation in the ass ay was within 7 % for both compounds. The average recoveries were in t he range of 95.28 - 100.06 %. A typical application was presented for mouse after iv DTC 50 mg . kg(-1). CONCLUSION: The rapid CSHPLC method with direct injection can be used for the study of pharmacokinetics o f DTC and DTC-Me.