Abstract: | Abstract A highly sensitive and selective derivatization of ketosteroids for use in high-performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection (HPLC/EC) is described. When the detector response for three phenylhydrazone derivatives was compared with one another using dehydroepiandrosterone, the p-nitrophenylhydrazone showed the highest sensitivity with a detection limit of 200 pg. Dehydroepiandrosterone and other principal 17-ketosteroids in human blood were quantitatively derivatized into p-nitrophenylhydrazones and efficiently separated by HPLC/EC on a μBondapak C1 8 column using 0.5%. NH4H2PO4/methanol (2:7, v/v). |