The determination of phenobarbital and diphenylhydantoin in blood by differential pulse polarography

A sensitive differential pulse polarographic assay was developed for the determination of phenobarbital or diphenylhydantoin in blood. The assay involves the selective extraction of the compound into chloroform from whole blood buffered to pH 7.0. After suitable “clean-up” of the sample, each compound is nitrated in 10% potassium nitrate in sulfuric acid at 25° for 1 h. The nitro-derivatives are extracted into ethyl acetate, and the residues are dissolved in 1 M phosphate buffer (pH 7.0) or 0.1 M sodium hydroxide for phenobarbital and diphenylhydantoin, respectively; the solutions are deoxygenated, and analyzed by differential pulse polarography. The overall recovery of phenobarbital and diphenylhydantoin from blood was 72.3% ±6.5 (s_r) and 76.7 ±2.3 (s_r) respectively. The sensitivity limit is 1–2 μg ml^-1 of blood for both compounds. A modified assay for the determination of both compounds in blood with t.l.c. separation was also developed.