Separation and determination of selected psychotropic drugs in human serum by SPE/HPLC/DAD on C18 and Polar-RP columns

ABSTRACT

A simple and sensitive high-performance liquid chromatographic method with diode array detection is described for the quantification of some psychotropic drugs: fluoxetine, sertraline, alprazolam, perphenazine, zolpidem, and hydroxyzine in fortified human serum samples. The test compounds were extracted from human serum by solid-phase extraction using C18 extraction column and injected into C18 or Polar-RP analytical columns for separation. A mobile phase was composed of methanol, water, acetate buffer at pH 3.5, and diethylamine. The method was validated for the concentration range 0.4–5 µg mL⁻¹ for zolpidem and 0.5–6 µg mL⁻¹ for other drugs. Mean recoveries were from 87.79% to 107.94% with adequate precision (% RSD ≤2.1%). The full separation of all investigated drugs, good peaks’ symmetry, and simultaneously high system efficiency were obtained on Polar-RP column, which was used for the first time to analyze these drugs. System efficiency obtained on the column was significantly higher compared to that obtained on commonly used C18 column. The method seems to be suitable for the analysis of investigated drugs in human plasma for psychiatric patients in multiple drug overdoses as well as for control of pharmacotherapy, particularly in combination therapy.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

KEYWORDS:

• C18 column
• HPLC
• human serum
• Polar-RP column
• psychotropic drugs
• SPE