G. Casamenti et al., Development of an HPLC method for the toxicological screening of central nervous system drugs, J LIQ CHR R, 23(7), 2000, pp. 1039-1059
A simple and sensitive HPLC (high performance liquid chromatography) method
has been developed for the qualitative and. quantitative analysis of sever
al CNS (central nervous system) drugs in clinical and forensic toxicology.
The leading conditions were studied, namely parameters such as mobile phase
pH, organic modifier percentage, and salt concentration An isocratic HPLC
elution, using a mobile phase composed of acetonitrile and pH 2.8 aqueous t
etramethylammonium perchlorate and a C8 reversed phase column as the statio
nary phase, was found to be convenient for the separation of several CNS dr
ugs, and for their detection and quantitation. The identification of the dr
ugs was assured using their relative retention times, together with the pea
k area ratios at two different wavelengths (230 and 270 nm). A quick pre-tr
eatment of the plasma samples, based on a SPE (solid phase extraction) proc
edure, with good extraction efficiency and satisfactory selectivity was dev
eloped. Under these conditions, a mixture of fifteen CNS drugs (including a
ntipsychotics, antidepressants and antiepileptics) and some selected active
metabolites, was well separated for identification and quantitative determ
ination purposes.