Determination of the 7-amino-metabolites of the 7-nitro-benzodiazepines in human plasma by thin-layer chromatography

A sensitive thin-layer chromatographic method is described for the determination of the 7–amino-metabolites of flunitrazepam and clonazepam. The same procedure is applicable to other 7-nitro-benzodiazepines such as nitrazepam. A purified plasma extract of the 7-amino-metabolites is separated by thin-layer chromatography. The primary aromatic amines are diazotized and coupled with N-(1-naphthyl) ethylene-diamine on the thin-layer plate. The quantities of the 7-amino-metabolites are directly evaluated by colorimetric densitometry. The lower limit of detection is in order of 0.5–10 ng cm^?3 of plasma. The relative standard deviation of the whole procedure is less than ±15% in the range of 0.5–10 ng cm^?3 for a single determination. The unchanged drugs can be reduced on the thin-layer plate and detected by the same method. Since this procedure is rather difficult to perform, it is advantageous to determine the 7-nitro-benzodiazepines in plasma by gas chromatography. The thin-layer chromatographic method was used to measure the 7-amino-metabolites in plasma of patients on either a flunitrazepam or a clonazepam oral dosing regimen.     

Thin-layer chromatographic separation and in situ fluorimetric determination of ofloxacin in plasma and pleural fluid

A thin-layer chromatographic assay for the determination of ofloxacin in human plasma and pleural fluid is described. After extraction of ofloxacin from samples with dichloromethane, chromatography was performed on thin-layer plates (silica gel) with a mobile phase consisting of ethanol and water; the tank atmosphere was equilibrated with concentrated ammonia. The precision of the assay could be considerably increased along with the measured fluorescence intensity of ofloxacin by spraying the plate with a citric acid solution and dipping it into paraffin or using a mixture of both components. Peaks were quantified by densitometric evaluation of the chromatograms. The method shows a very low limit of detection (1 ng/ml) as well as good precision and linearity in the range 0.001-2.0 micrograms/ml for both plasma and pleural fluid.     

Spectrofluorimetric determination of dipyridamole in serum--a comparison of two methods

Two spectrofluorimetric methods for the determination of dipyridamole in plasma are described. The thin-layer chromatographic-fluoridensitometric method utilizes 1 ml of plasma which is extracted at pH 10 with diethyl ether-dichloromethane (80:20). The organic phase is evaporated to dryness, reconstituted in 250 microliter dichloromethane and 5 microliter are spotted on a silica gel 60 plate. The plate is developed in ethyl acetate-methanol-ammonia (85:10:5), dried, dipped in a paraffin wax solution, dried, and scanned using 380 nm as excitation wavelength, a 430 nm cut-off filter, and collecting all emitted light on the photomultiplier. Quantitation was done by the external standard method, peak heights being measured and a calibration graph constructed. For the spectrofluorimetric method 1 ml of plasma is extracted at pH 10 with 8 ml of hexane-isoamyl alcohol (95:5) and the organic phase used directly for the measurement of the fluorescence intensity (excitation 405 nm, emission 495 nm). Quantitation was done by measuring the fluorescence of standards that were treated as above and constructing a calibration graph of concentration versus fluorescence intensity. Concentrations of unknowns were found by interpolation from this graph. The two methods were found to exhibit good correlation but the spectrofluorimetric method proved to be more amenable to the analysis of a large number of samples.     

Rolling--a new application technique for luminescent bacteria on high-performance thin-layer chromatography plates

High-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) coupled with bioluminescence detection using Vibrio fischeri bacteria can be used for screening for unknown substances. This is accomplished by dipping the HPTLC plate in an aqueous bacteria solution. Especially polar substances, however, can start to dissolve during this process, which leads to blurring and tailing of the zones on the plate. To overcome this disadvantage, we applied the bacteria solution by rolling. This method has been described for chemical derivatizations, but is very rarely used. The rolling device was made of commercially available household articles. Using octhilinone and methylparaben as test compounds, rolling was compared with dipping. Despite of performing the rolling process manually, the results were reproducible. Depending on the substance and its amount on the HPTLC plate, peaks were narrower, up to a factor of 4 higher and with a higher signal-to-noise ratio than after dipping.     

Investigations for the detection of genotoxic substances on TLC plates

The present study describes modifications to an existing bioautographic method for detecting genotoxic substances on thin-layer chromatography (TLC) plates by using the umu assay. It will be shown that the complex procedure that is described in the literature can be significantly simplified. Using the modified method, it is possible to detect 0.3?ng of the genotoxic substance 4-nitroquinoline-N-oxide. With 5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indolyl-β-D-galactopyranoside (X-gal), a suitable substrate for environmental samples for the detection of the resulting β-galactosidase was found. Experiments showed, in contrast, that indirectly genotoxic substances could not thus far be identified on the TLC plate with overlayer bioautography.     

Determination of salbutamol in human plasma and urine by high-performance thin-layer chromatography

A rapid, accurate and sensitive method for the determination of salbutamol in plasma and urine is described. Salbutamol is extracted using solid-phase techniques and converted to an indoaniline dye by reaction with dimethyl-p-phenylenediamine. The indoaniline is separated using high-performance thin-layer chromatography and quantified by absorption microdensitometry at 650 nm. The method is sensitive down to 20 ng/ml in urine and to 1 ng/ml in plasma and provides data in good agreement with that obtained by gas chromatography--mass spectrometry. The method can be used for analysis of pharmacokinetic studies.     

Thin-layer chromatographic screening procedure for some drugs in horse plasma

A thin-layer chromatographic screening procedure for some basic, neutral and acidic drugs was developed using 3 ml of horse plasma. Chloroform-2-propanol (95:5, v/v) was used as the extraction solvent. The drugs were identified by a high-performance thin-layer chromatographic plate and spraying successively with some detection reagents. In this study, the extraction recovery rates and the detection limits were determined at the same time.     

Quantitation of hexadecylphosphocholine by high-performance thin-layer chromatography with densitometry

A method for the determination of the antineoplastic ether phospholipid hexadecylphosphocholine (HePC) is presented, based on the separation of the lipids by high-performance thin-layer chromatography charring with a cupric sulphate reagent and quantitation by in situ densitometry. The lower limit of determination is ca. 25 pmol. Concentrated hexane-isopropanol extracts of plasma samples can be applied to the plate without further clean-up, making this method useful for clinical drug monitoring. Additional ion-exchange chromatography and removal of the salt contaminants by gel filtration permits the study of endogenous phospholipids together with HePC from the same sample.     

Rapid,simple, and highly sensitive analysis of drugs in biological samples using thin-layer chromatography coupled with matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry

Rapid and precise identification of toxic substances is necessary for urgent diagnosis and treatment of poisoning cases and for establishing the cause of death in postmortem examinations. However, identification of compounds in biological samples using gas chromatography and liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry entails time-consuming and labor-intensive sample preparations. In this study, we examined a simple preparation and highly sensitive analysis of drugs in biological samples such as urine, plasma, and organs using thin-layer chromatography coupled with matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (TLC/MALDI/MS). When the urine containing 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) without sample dilution was spotted on a thin-layer chromatography (TLC) plate and was analyzed by TLC/MALDI/MS, the detection limit of the MDMA spot was 0.05 ng/spot. The value was the same as that in aqueous solution spotted on a stainless steel plate. All the 11 psychotropic compounds tested (MDMA, 4-hydroxy-3-methoxymethamphetamine, 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine, methamphetamine, p-hydroxymethamphetamine, amphetamine, ketamine, caffeine, chlorpromazine, triazolam, and morphine) on a TLC plate were detected at levels of 0.05 − 5 ng, and the type (layer thickness and fluorescence) of TLC plate did not affect detection sensitivity. In addition, when rat liver homogenate obtained after MDMA administration (10 mg/kg) was spotted on a TLC plate, MDMA and its main metabolites were identified using TLC/MALDI/MS, and the spots on a TLC plate were visualized by MALDI/imaging MS. The total analytical time from spotting of intact biological samples to the output of analytical results was within 30 min. TLC/MALDI/MS enabled rapid, simple, and highly sensitive analysis of drugs from intact biological samples and crude extracts. Accordingly, this method could be applied to rapid drug screening and precise identification of toxic substances in poisoning cases and postmortem examinations.     

Enzymatic reactions on thin-layer chromatographic plates. II. Phospholipase A2 hydrolysis of phosphatidylcholine and separation of the products on a single plate

A procedure for the phospholipase A2 hydrolysis of phosphatidylcholine on a thin-layer chromatographic plate and subsequent separation of the products on the same plate is described. A 0.2-0.8-mg amount of Russell's viper venom (phospholipase A2) in 0.2 ml of 0.005 M calcium chloride solution was applied on a 0.5-mm silica gel G plate as a band over which 2-5 mg of egg phosphatidylcholine in 0.2 ml of diethyl ether containing 5% of methanol was evenly applied. After the reaction had proceeded for 15-20 min in a diethyl ether-saturated chamber at 25 degrees, the plate was developed with chloroform-methanol-water (65:25:4). The bands were identified and their contents extracted. The extent of hydrolysis under different reaction conditions was evaluated from the amount of lysophosphatidylcholine formed. Approximately 74.6% (maximum) conversion was obtained within 15 min at 25 degrees using a substrate to enzyme ratio of 4:1. The acyl group distributions in the 1- and 2-positions of hen egg phosphatidylcholine obtained from the gas-liquid chromatographic analysis of the methyl ester corresponding to the lyso and free fatty acid band agreed with those obtained by the method of Wells and Hanahan. The method is also applicable to phosphatidylethanolamine.     

Chromato-spectrophotometric determination of psoberan and psoralen in blood plasma

A procedure has been developed for the quantitative determination of the natural photosensitizers psoberan and psoralen in blood plasma. The furocoumarins are extracted from the plasma with chloroform and are separated from accompanying substances by the TLC method. The quantitative determination is made spectrophotometrically. The sensitivity threshold of the method is 1 µg/ml.     

Modern chromatographic procedures in systematic toxicological analysis

The fact that the toxicologist in systematic toxicological analysis never knows what he is looking at but has to take into account a vast number of toxicologically relevant substances makes this field a very difficult, yet challenging task. Because of the strong qualitative emphasis gas and thin-layer chromatography are at present the techniques of choice, and can be used with other relevant techniques such as spray reactions on the plate, UV spectrophotometry and mass spectrometry. However, as a single chromatographic technique will never provide unequivocal identification, the techniques have to be used side by side, so that the final identification matches the results from all the techniques applied. This approach requires that the advantages and disadvantages of each technique be well-known so that a combination of techniques can be chosen that provides the optimum identification power. After the unknown substance(s) have been analysed by a number of techniques and their particular behaviour in these techniques has been established, these findings are then matched against a data bank containing the behaviour of reference substances. This data bank should be as large as possible. Moreover, the search process used with the data bank must take into account the identification power of each individual technique, otherwise a well balanced "yes-no" decision about the presence or absence of a given substance is impossible.     

Quantitative determination of valienamine and validamine by thin-layer chromatography

A simple and valid thin-layer chromatographic method for the separation and quantitative determination of valienamine and validamine is described. The two compounds are separated using a Silica gel G plate as the stationary phase and a mixture of 1-PrOH-AcOH-H2O (4:1:1, v/v/v) as the mobile phase. The plate is developed for 1 h at 25 degrees C and dried by a hairdrier, then immersed in 0.1% ninhydrin aqueous solution and heated for 5 min at 121 degrees C. The reacted spots are scanned with a single wavelength at 420 nm in the measurement mode of absorption. The limits of detection of the two compounds are both 0.4 microg. The responses of the densitometry are highly correlated with the amounts of valienamine and validamine in the range of 0.4-2.8 pg. Moreover, the method shows good accuracy and high precision.     

Simultaneous determination of fluocortolone, fluocortolone caproate and nicotinic acid benzylester in pharmaceutical preparations by TLC

Summary A direct quantitative thin-layer Chromatographic method for the determination of fluocortolone, fluocortolone caproate and nicotinic acid benzylester in the presence of each other in pharmaceutical preparations is described. The active ingredients were extracted from the preparations with an electronically controlled extraction apparatus within 15 min. Development of thin-layer chromatograms was carried out on silica gel 60 F254 precoated plates. All three active ingredients can be separated on one plate using one solvent system namely diethyl ether — hexane — benzene (75251) and determined directly by the remission method using a densitometer. Fluocortolone and fluocortolone caproate were measured at 243 nm and nicotinic acid benzylester at 263 nm. Evaluation of thinlayer chromatograms takes place on-line from the linear calibration curves using an IBM 1800 computer. The described method is suitable for analyses of these substances in pharmaceutical preparations, such as ointments and creams and can be well reproduced with a coefficient of variation between 1.3–3.5% for the three active ingredients.

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Gleichzeitige Bestimmung von Fluocortolon, Fluocortoloncaproat und Nicotinsäurebenzylester in pharmazeutischen Zubereitungen durch DC

     

Determination of cis-diamminedichloroplatinum(II) in human plasma using ion-pair chromatography with electrochemical detection

A thin-layer gold/mercury electrode and a hanging mercury drop electrode are compared as part of an evaluation of liquid chromatography (LC) with electrochemical detection (ED) for the determination of platinum species in human plasma ultrafiltrate. The platinum species, derived from an aged aqueous solution of the antineoplastic agent cis-diamminedichloroplatinum(II) (CDDP), can be separated by ion-pair chromatography. Variation of a number of parameters is described along with the limitations and advantages of each kind of electrode system. We have used our LC-ED technique to separate CDDP from its hydrolysis products and other non-platinum-containing species in human plasma ultrafiltrate with a detection limit of 62 ng/ml (ppb).     

Determination of a new non-benzodiazepine anxiolytic and its O-demethyl metabolite in plasma by high-performance liquid chromatography using automated column-switching

An highly sensitive and fully automated high-performance liquid chromatographic assay was developed for the determination of a novel non-benzodiazepine anxiolytic (I) [(R)-2-(methoxymethyl)-1-[(7-oxo-8-phenyl-7H-thieno[2,3-a]quinolizin+ ++- 10-yl)carbonyl]pyrrolidine] and its O-demethyl metabolite (II) in plasma, using column-switching for direct injection of plasma samples. After dilution in internal standard solution, the sample was injected onto a pre-column (17 mm x 4.6 mm) dry-packed with pellicular C18 reversed-phase material. Polar plasma components were removed by flushing the pre-column with water-acetonitrile (90:10, v/v). Retained substances, including I and II, were backflushed onto an analytical column, separated by gradient elution and detected by means of fluorescence detection (excitation, 304 nm; emission, 475 nm). After washing the analytical column and re-equilibrating the pre-column, the system was ready for the next injection. The limit of quantification for I and II was 0.25 and 0.5 ng/ml, respectively, using a 350-microliter specimen of plasma. The practicability of the new method was demonstrated by analysis of more than 300 plasma samples from a tolerance study performed with human volunteers. Owing to its high sensitivity, the method can be used to calculate pharmacokinetic parameters of compounds I and II in man after a single oral dose of about 1 mg of I.     

Thin-layer chromatographic method for determining carbamazepine and two of its metabolites in serum.

A sensitive and highly specific thin-layer chromatographic method for determining simulataneously serum levels of carbamazepine and two of its major metabolites, carbamazepine-10 11-epoxide and 10, 11-dihydroxycarbamazepine, is presented. Serum (1 mug) was spotted directly onto the thin-layer plate and, after irrigation, the separated spots were converted into fluorescing compounds by exposing the plates to hydrogen chloride gas for 5 min and then to strong ultraviolet radiation from a mercury lamp for 20 min. The fluorescence was measured quantitatively using a spectrofluorimeter equipped with a thin-layer chromatogram scanning attachment. Two microlitres of serum are sufficient for a duplicate determination.     

Column-switching high-performance liquid chromatographic analysis of carbamazepine and its principal metabolite in human plasma with direct sample injection using an alkyl-diol silica (ADS) precolumn

In this paper, the on-line coupling of solid-phase extraction, based on a restricted-access support with high-performance reverse phase chromatography for the analysis of carbamazepine (CBZ) and carbamazepine-10,11-epoxide (CBZ-E) in human plasma samples is described. A precolumn packed with 25 mum C(18) alkyl-diol support is used for direct plasma injection. Using column-switching techniques, the analytes were enriched on the precolumn by a 5 mM phosphate buffer (pH 7) with 2% of methanol solution at a flow-rate of 0.8 ml min(-1), while proteins and endogenous hydrophilic substances in plasma were washed off to waste. The enriched analytes were then back-flushed onto the analytical C(18) column, separated by a mixture of 10 mM phosphate buffer (pH 7) acetonitrile (70:30 v/v) solution at a flow-rate of 1.0 ml min(-1) and detected by the ultraviolet absorbance set at 212 and 285 nm and without transfer loss. Linear calibration graphs were obtained for sample injection volumes of 50 (0.2-4.0 of mug of CBZ ml(-1) and 0.1-5.0 mug of CBZ-E ml(-1), respectively), and 20 mul (5.0-20.0 mug of CBZ ml(-1)); in either case the r-value was >0.9963. Recoveries from spiked plasma samples were quantitative for both analytes and the coefficients of variation were below 3.83%. The lowest samples concentrations that can be quantified with acceptable accuracy and precision was 0.2 mug CBZ ml(-1) and 0.1 mug CBZ-E ml(-1) when a sample volume of 50 mul was injected. Concentrations of 0.08 and 0.05 mug ml(-1) of CBZ and CBZ-E were considered the limit of detection for a signal-to-noise ratio of 3. Furthermore, the developed column-switching method was successfully applied to the determination of CBZ and CBZ-E in plasma samples of patients submitted to CBZ therapy.