HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHIC MONITORING OF INTRAVENOUSLY ADMINISTERED DIACETYLMORPHINE AND MORPHINE AND THEIR METABOLITES IN HUMAN PLASMA

A rapid and selective reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatog raphic assay with gradient elution and diode-array detection for diace tylmorphine, morphine, codeine, and their free and glucuronidated meta bolites in plasma, was developed. After addition of ethylmorphine as i nternal standard the plasma samples were extracted using C-18 ODS-2 so lid-phase columns with a recovery better than 80%. The limit of quanti tation using an injection volume of 2 mu l was 25 ng/ml for each compo und. The intra- and inter-day precision was better than 5%. The descri bed method cannot only be used for pharmacokinetic studies but also fo r intoxication cases to monitor a wide range of opiates.