Determination of trazodone in urine and pharmaceuticals using micellar liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection.

A simple and reliable liquid chromatographic procedure is described for the determination of trazodone in pharmaceutical formulations and urine samples. The optimized procedure uses fluorimetric detection, a C18 column and a micellar mobile phase of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and 1-butanol. The mobile phase selected for use was 0.2M SDS and 8% 1-butanol fixed at pH 3 with phosphate buffer. The total analysis time was 10 min. For the analysis of urine samples, one great advantage of the method is that no extraction step is required. The quantification limit was 9.5 ng mL(-1), ensuring the analysis of the drug in biological fluids. The procedure shows good accuracy, repeatability and selectivity. Repeatability and intermediate precision were tested for several concentrations of the drug. Good claim percentages were obtained in the analysis of pharmaceutical formulations. Calibration repeatability in urine matrix was also studied in the 0.06-22.4 microg mL(-1) range. Good recoveries were obtained from spiked urine samples. No interferences from common additives frequently administered with trazodone or from endogenous compounds in urine samples were found. The results show that the procedure is suitable for routine analysis of the drug.

Direct determination of verapamil in urine and serum samples by micellar liquid chromatography and fluorescence detection.

Verapamil, a calcium channel antagonist, is one of the most commonly prescribed drugs in the treatment of hypertension. In this work, it was determined in serum and urine samples by a sensitive and precise chromatographic procedure without any pre-treatment step in a C18 column using a micellar mobile phase of 0.15M sodium dodecyl sulfate and 5% pentanol at pH 7. Fluorescence detection set at 230 nm (excitation) and 312 nm (emission) was used. Verapamil is eluted at 12.5 min with no interference by the protein band or endogenous compounds. Linearities (r > 0.998), as well as intra- and inter-day precision, were studied in the validation of the method. LODs were also calculated to be 11.0, 18.5 and 20.2 ng/mL in micellar solution, serum and urine, respectively. Recoveries in the biological matrices were in the 97-99% range. Drug excretion in urine was studied in a volunteer receiving treatment for hypertension, and verapamil, as an unchanged drug, was separated from other metabolites. The procedure developed can be useful in the field of toxicology and clinical analysis.

Photostability studies for micellar liquid chromatographic determination of nifedipine in serum and urine samples.

Nifedipine is a photosensitive compound that is converted into its 4-(2-nitrophenyl) pyridine and 4-(2-nitrosophenyl) pyridine homologue. In order to obtain the most adequate conditions for handling nifedipine solutions in the analytical laboratory, a number of studies on the decomposition of this compound were performed. A simple micellar liquid chromatographic procedure was described to determine nifedipine in different biological matrices such as serum and urine, and to control its decomposition. To perform the analysis, nifedipine was dissolved in 0.1 m SDS at pH 3 and chromatographed using a mobile phase containing 0.125 m SDS-3% pentanol, pH 3 on a C18 column and UV detection at 235 nm. The chromatographic analysis time was 8 min. The response of the drug for both biological matrices was linear in the 1-100 microg/mL range, with r2>0.997 at all times. Repeatability, intermediate precision (CV, %) and limits of quantification and detection (ng/mL) were 0.19, 4.3, 104 and 31 in serum and 0.81, 2.1, 136 and 41 in urine. The method developed here does not show interferences or matrix effects produced by endogenous compounds. Micellar media and mobile phases have the advantage of stabilising the compounds, thus preventing photodegradation and allowing the direct injection of biological samples.

Rapid determination of acetaminophen in physiological fluids by liquid chromatography using SDS mobile phase and ED detection.

Acetaminophen is determined in serum and urine samples by a rapid, sensitive, and precise chromatographic method without any pretreatment step in a C18 column using a pure micellar mobile phase of 0.02M sodium dodecyl sulfate at pH 7. Acetaminophen is eluted in less than 5 min with no interference of the protein band. The use of electrochemical and UV detection is compared. Linearities (r > 0.999), as well as intra- and interday precision, are studied in the validation of the method. Limits of detection (LOD) are also calculated to be 0.56, 0.83, and 0.74 ng/mL in micellar solution, serum, and urine using electrochemical detection. The developed micellar liquid chromatographic method is useful for the quantitation of acetaminophen in serum and urine. Recoveries in the biological matrices are in the 98-107% range and results are compared with those obtained using a reference method. Drug excretion (in urine) and serum distribution are studied in several healthy volunteers, and no interference from metabolites is found. The developed procedure can be applied in routine analyses, toxicology, and therapeutic monitoring.

Use of a three-factor interpretive optimisation strategy in the development of an isocratic chromatographic procedure for the screening of diuretics in urine samples using micellar mobile phases.

Screening of diuretics in urine is feasible through direct injection of the samples into the chromatographic system and isocratic reversed-phase liquid chromatography (RPLC) with micellar-organic mobile phases of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and 1-propanol. The surfactant coverage of the chromatographic column makes the addition of organic competing amines less necessary than in conventional aqueous-organic RPLC to achieve well-shaped peaks. Also, the range of elution strengths of micellar mobile phases required to elute mixtures of hydrophobic and hydrophilic diuretics is smaller. This allows the isocratic separation of the diuretics within adequate analysis times. An interpretive methodology is applied to optimise the resolution of a mixture of 15 diuretics of diverse polarity and acid-base behaviour (althiazide, amiloride, bendroflumethiazide, benzthiazide, bumetanide, canrenoic acid, chlorthalidone, ethacrynic acid, furosemide, piretanide, probenecid, torasemide, triamterene, trichloromethiazide and xipamide), using pH and concentrations of surfactant and organic modifier in the mobile phase as separation factors. Twelve diuretics were resolved in 25 min using 0.055 M SDS-6.0% 1-propanol at pH 3.0. The mixture of 15 diuretics was also resolved with two mobile phases showing complementary behaviour: 0.05 M SDS-5.6% 1-propanol at pH 5.4 and 0.11 M SDS-5.4% 1-propanol at pH 4.2. The results were applied to the analysis of urine samples with limits of detection similar to those usually reported for aqueous-organic RPLC, taking into account that the samples were injected without any previous treatment to separate or preconcentrate the analytes.

Spectrophotometric determination of carbamate pesticides with diazotized trimethylaniline in a micellar medium of sodium dodecyl sulfate.

The spectrophotometric determination of the carbamate pesticides carbaryl, bendiocarb, carbofuran, methiocarb, promecarb and propoxur is proposed. The pesticides are hydrolyzed in alkaline medium to 1-naphthol or phenolates, which are coupled with diazotized trimethylaniline (TMA) in a sodium dodecyl sulfate micellar medium to form the azo dyes. The micellar medium increased the solubility of TMA and enhanced the sensitivity. The performance of TMA was compared with that of sulfanilic acid, which is the conventional reagent used in these determinations. Although the absorbance of the azo dyes of sulfanilic acid was also enhanced in the micellar solution, the sensitivity was still greater with TMA. Further, at the pH required for the coupling reaction (9.5), the absorbance of the blank was negligible with TMA but large with sulfanilic acid. Using TMA, the limits of detection were in the range 0.2-2 micrograms cm-3. The procedure was applied to the determination of carbaryl in spiked tap, river and pond water samples and to the evaluation of various carbamates in commercial pesticide formulations.

Fish species identification by isoelectric focusing of parvalbumins in immobilized pH gradients.

Isoelectric focusing in immobilized pH gradients (IPG) is reported for unequivocal identification of fish species. Three orders of fishes have been analyzed: salmons, flat and cod fishes. In each family, four closely related species have been analyzed. For clear-cut species identification, two strategies have been adopted: (i) to perform IPGs in very narrow (1 pH unit and less) acidic gradients, typically spanning the pH 4-5 range, where fewer proteins are present and the pattern is much clearer; (ii) to focus the analysis on the parvalbumins, since this protein class if highly species-specific and resistant to heat. Thus, not only fresh muscle could be analyzed, but also boiled fish samples. In all cases unambiguous determination of each species could be performed, either by simple visual band inspection or, in the most difficult cases, by densitometric evaluation of the Coomassie-blue stained profiles. The analysis was performed in extracts of single species and also in mixtures of the most closely related species.

Purification of thermamylase in multicompartment electrolyzers with isoelectric membranes: the problem of protein solubility.

The main alpha-amylase from Bacillus licheniformis (called thermamylase because of its resistance to high temperatures, 90 degrees C) has been subjected to purification by isoelectric focusing in multicompartment electrolyzers with isoelectric membranes. The enzyme tended to precipitate, producing severe smears in proximity of its pI value (7.18). Solubility could not be ameliorated by any of the known means typically adopted in isoelectric focusing and compatible with enzyme activity, such as addition of neutral and zwitterionic surfactants (e.g., Nonidet, 3-[(3-cholamidopropyl)dimethylammonio]-1-propane-sulfonate, up to 2%), mixed hydro-organic solvents (glycerol, ethylene glycol, propylene glycol) and addition of zwitterions unable to form micelles, such as taurine. However, addition of sugars, notably saccharose, sorbitol, and, to a lesser extent, sorbose, greatly improved protein solubility in the pI proximity. The improvement was dramatic if these sugars were admixed with 0.2 M taurine. Additionally, the increment of solubility (which occurred when reaching a level of 40% of the different sugars) was accompanied by a large pI shift, typically reducing the pI value by as much as 0.4 pH units (e.g., from a pI of 7.18 in the absence of additives to a pI of 6.80 in presence of a mixture of 40% sucrose and 0.2 M taurine, the best solubilizer in all the series investigated). This apparent pI shift was not due to a change of pH gradient caused by the presence of additives, since pH measurements in the absence as well as presence of additives gave identical results. The results are explained by the theory of Timasheff and Arakawa on stabilization of protein structure by solvents: sugars (at ca. 1 M concentration) and zwitterions such as taurine belong to class I stabilizers, characterized by negative binding to proteins and by increasing the surface tension of water. As a result, the protein is in a state of "superhydration", which might prevent binding to Immobilines in the gel matrix and might alter some pKs on the protein surface. In solutions of 40% saccharose and 0.2 M taurine, thermamylase could be successfully purified to a single isoelectric and isoionic band in the multicompartment electrolyzer.

Determination of sulphonamides in human urine by azo dye precolumn derivatization and micellar liquid chromatography.

A high-performance liquid chromatographic method for the determination of sulphonamides in urine is reported. The drugs (sulphadiazine, sulphaguanidine, sulphamethizole, sulphamethoxazole, and sulphathiazole) were diazotized with nitrite and coupled with N-(1-naphthyl)ethylenediamine dihydrochloride in a sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) micellar medium. Separation of the sulphonamide azo dyes was performed on a C18 column with a 0.05 M SDS-2.4% pentanol mobile phase, which permitted the direct injection of the urine samples. The limits of detection were in the 0.1-0.3 micrograms/ml range.

Enhanced spectrophotometric determination of nicotinic acid in a sodium dodecyl sulphate micellar medium.

The spectrophotometric determination of pyridine and pyridine derivatives by means of the König reaction was studied in micellar media of sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS), N-cetylpyridinium chloride and Triton X-100. The sensitivity was largely increased in SDS micellar medium. The attack of the pyridine ring with cyanogen bromide to produce a glutaconic aldehyde was not affected by the presence of SDS, but the yield of the coupling reaction with an arylamine to produce a polymethine dye was largely increased. In the SDS micellar medium, aniline was superior to other coupling reagents. The limits of detection (LODs) were 6 x 10(-7), 1 x 10(-6) and 5 x 10(-7)M for pyridine, pyrrol-ylmethylpyridine and nicotinic acid, respectively, and the reproducibility for 2 x 10(-5)M solutions was ca. 2%. In the absence of SDS, the LODs were 3 x 10(-6), 3 x 10(-6) and 9 x 10(-6)M, respectively, and the reproducibility was ca. 3.5%. Application was made to the determination of nicotinic acid in pharmaceuticals.

High-performance micellar liquid chromatography determination of sulphonamides in pharmaceuticals after azodye precolumn derivatization.

A chromatographic procedure with precolumn derivatization to form the N-(1-naphthyl)ethylenediamine dihydrochloride azodyes is proposed for the analysis of several sulphonamides (sodium sulphacetamide, sulphadiazine, sulphaguanidine, sulphamerazine, sulphamethizole, sulphamethoxazole, sulphanilamide and sulphathiazole) in pharmaceutical preparations (tablets, pills, capsules, suspensions and drops). The separation is performed with a 0.05 M sodium dodecyl sulphate/2.4% pentanol eluent at pH 7. The precolumn derivatization improved the resolution in the chromatograms and increased the selectivity in the determination of mixtures of sulphonamides and in preparations where other drugs were present. The derivatization reaction was readily performed in a micellar medium of SDS at pH 1, leading to a rapid and simple procedure. The recoveries were in the 97-104% range with relative standard deviations usually below 3%.

Conventional and thermal lens spectrophotometric determination of p-aminobenzoic acid and arylamine diuretics previous azodye formation in a micellar medium.

The determination of the diuretics hydrochlorothiazide, bendroflumethiazide and furosemide by both conventional and thermal lens spectrophotometry (TLS, 100 mW of pump power at 514.5 nm) following previous hydrolysis, diazotization and coupling with N-(naphthyl)ethylenedine (NED) in a sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) micellar medium of pH approximately 1 was studied. p-Aminobenzoic acid (PABA) was used as a model compound to optimize the derivatization procedures. 3-Substituted indoles, such as 5-hydroxyindole-3-acetic acid and tryptophan, gave N-nitroso derivatives which interfered with the determination of the diuretics in urine. The derivatized diuretics in urine were separated using HPLC with a Spherisorb ODS-2 C(18) column, and a 0.1M SDS mobile phase containing 5% n-propanol and 0.001M sodium dihydrogen phosphate (pH 3). The diuretics gave limits of detection (LODs) of ca. 5 x 10(-9)M for the TLS procedure. The LODs were 20-50-fold higher for the corresponding spectrophotometric procedure.