Tribute to Prof. Roy Edward Bruns,Universidade Estadual de Campinas

Abstract

Arrhythmic patients treated with quinidine have been found to ingest caffeine from various sources. Caffeine interferes with the quantitation of quinidine in plasma samples. This method for determination of quinidine in plasma is based on high performance isocratic liquid chromatography with the use of a C-18 bonded reverse phase column at room temperature. Unlike some liquid chromatographic procedures for quinidine, caffeine does not interfere. Quinidine is extracted from alkalinized plasma into benzene. The benzene layer is removed and evaporated to dryness under nitrogen at 50 C. The residue is reconstituted with methanol and injected into the column. The mobile phase is 30/70 (v/v) mixture of methanol/0.4% glacial acetic acid. Analysis can be completed within 10 minutes. The procedure is sensitive (0.5mg/L) and is well reproducible (CV= 3.5% for a 2 mg/L concentration in plasma).