N-Alkylation of Secondary Amine Tricyclic Antidepressants as a General Method for Their Quantitation by GC-MS-SIM Technique. Preparation of N-Ethyl Derivatives of Desimipramine, Nortriptyline, Protiptyline and Desmethyldoxepin

Abstract

A simple method for the preparation of N-ethyl derivatives of secondary amino tricyclic antidepressants is described, using dimethylformamide diethyl acetal as the alkylating reagent. The GC data and electron impact and chemical ionization mass spectra of N-ethyl derivatives are presented. The use of these derivatives in the quantitation of plasma levels of these drugs in clinical studies is discussed.

Key Words:

• N-alkylation
• N-ethyl derivatives
• desimipramine
• nortriptyline
• desmethyldoxepin
• protriptyline gcms-assay