SENSITIVE METHOD FOR THE ASSAY OF SERTINDOLE IN PLASMA BY HIGHPERFORMANCE LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHY AND FLUOROMETRIC DETECTION

A simple and highly sensitive normal-phase HPLC method is described fo r determining sertindole concentrations in human plasma using fluorime tric detection. A short C-8 column was used to extract sertindole and the internal standard from plasma; the column was rinsed with acetonit rile, and the analytes were recovered by elution with methanol. This u ncommon selectivity between the two solvents allowed clean extraction and near- quantitative recovery of the analytes (> 89%). Separation wa s done on a 5-mu m silica-gel column and detection was performed by fl uorimetry, with emission at 340 nm and excitation at 260 nm. The detec tion and lower quantifiable limits were 0.01 and 0.025 ng/ml, respecti vely, with no interference from plasma or potential metabolites.