| Abstract: | Abstract An ion-pair HPLC approach with ordinary silica has been applied, with detection by ultraviolet absorption, to the assay of plasma for chlorpromazine and its sulfoxide on the one hand, and for 7-hydroxychlorpromazine (an active metabolite) on the other hand. The respective sample-preparation procedures entail extraction of the plasma with heptane at strongly alkaline pH, or else with diethyl ether at a less alkaline pH and with ensuing back-extraction and re-extraction. For each of the compounds, levels as low as 10 ng. ml?1 are measurable. The conditions adopted are such that specificity and reproducibility are satisfactory although chlorpromazine and its various metabolites, especially 7-hydroxychlorpromazine, are chemically unstable and, moreover, are readily lost onto glass. With the unorthodox separation system adopted, adsorption rather than partition appears to be the dominant mechanism. |
