POROUS GRAPHITIC CARBON SHOWS PROMISE FOR THE RAPID CHROMATOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS OF POLAR DRUG METABOLITES

A rapid and simple HPLC method has been developed and used to separate the polar metabolic conjugates of AZT, chloramphenicol, and beta-estr adiol based upon the use of porous graphitic carbon. The HPLC system i s sufficiently selective to resolve the polar drug conjugates from the ir parent compounds and from endogenous material present in urine. The compounds are separated, without the need for sample pretreatment or gradient elution, on a porous graphitic carbon (Hypercarb) column usin g aqueous trifluoroacetic acid modified with tetrahydrofuran as the mo bile phase. Porous graphitic carbon exhibits a novel mechanism of rete ntion towards these very polar substances, which are unretained under reversed-phase conditions on alkyl-bonded silica phases.