Abstract
High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with chemically removable derivatizing reagents for the analysis of methanol has been developed. Methanol was derivatized with 4-[N-methyl, N-(1-naphthylmethyl)]-amino-4-oxo-butanoic acid (NAOB), using 4-dimethylaminopyridine (DMAP) and 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)carbodiimide hydrochloride (EDC) as activators. NAOB and the activators are chemically removable and can be removed by aqueous base and acid treatment after derivatization to minimize reagent interference in chromatography. The method can simultaneously determine methanol, ethanol and 1-propanol. The proposed HPLC method was validated for linearity, specificity, accuracy and reproducibility. The method was applied to the analysis of methanol spiked in Ipecac fluid extract with a satisfactory recovery (>95%).