High-performance liquid chromatographic method for the determination of benzodiazepines in plasma or serum using the column-switching technique
El Mahjoub, A.; Staub, C.
Journal of Chromatography. B Biomedical Sciences and Applications 742(2): 381-390
2000
ISSN/ISBN: 1387-2273 PMID: 10901143 DOI: 10.1016/s0378-4347(00)00185-7
Accession: 010752875
A column-switching high-performance liquid chromatographic method for the simultaneous determination of five frequently prescribed benzodiazepines: clonazepam, diazepam, flunitrazepam, midazolam and oxazepam was developed. A 50-mul plasma sample was directly injected into a BioTrap 500 MS (hydrophobic polymer) column. After a washing step with a mixture of phosphate buffer and acetonitrile, the retained benzodiazepines were back-flushed into a reversed-phase (LiChrospher Select B C8) column with a mobile phase of acetonitrile-phosphate buffer. The method showed excellent linearity from 50 to 1000 ng/ml for clonazepam, flunitrazepam and midazolam and from 50 to 5000 ng/ml for diazepam and oxazepam. The recoveries were around 98% for all the benzodiazepines studied. The relative standard deviation for between- and within-day assay was <20% for low concentrations close to the values of the limit of quantification and <4% for high concentrations. The procedure described is relatively simple and rapid because no off-line manipulation of the sample is required: the total analysis time is approximately 30 min.