Simultaneous Determination of Chloroquine and Desethylchloroquine in Blood, Plasma and Urine by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography

Abstract
A high-performance liquid chromatographic method is described for the determination of chloroquine and its major metabolite desethylchloroquine in blood, plasma and urine. The procedure employs reversed-phase chromatography, with ultraviolet detection, and chlorpheniramine as an internal standard. One milliliter samples of biologic fluid are extracted in a single step with ether. The method has a sensitivity limit of 5 ng/ml for chloroquine and its metabolite. The applicability of the method is demonstrated by the analysis of blood and plasma samples obtained from rabbits following intravenous administration of chloroquine.