Identification and Quantification of Tricyclic Antidepressants by Uv-Photodiode Array Detection with Multicomponent Analysis

Abstract

The procedure described is a method for the identification and quantification of tricyclic antidepressants (TCA's) by HPLC UV-photodiode array detection. By incorporating both retention and spectral characteristics into analyses of known standards, ten different TCA's (amitriptyline, amoxapine, carbamazepine, cyclobenzaprine, desipramine, doxepin, imipramine, maprotiline, nortriptyline and protriptyline) were accurately identified and quantified at concentrations down to less than 1 μg/ml. In cases where chromatographic resolution was incomplete, decomposition of the composite spectra by multicomponent analysis (MCA) provided accurate identification and quantification of the individual constituents.