Assay of N-Propylajmaline in Blood Plasma by Ion-Pair Liquid-Liquid Chromatography

Abstract

A sensitive method for assay of N-propylajmaline (prajmaline) in human plasma is described. The quaternary ammonium compound exists as a pair of stereoisomers, which are isolated and separated by ion-pair liquid-liquid chromatography on microporous silica particles. An aqueous solution containing perchloric acid and sodium perchlorate is used as stationary phase and a mixture of butanol, dichloroethane and hexane as mobile phase. The procedure involves ion-pair extraction from plasma and evaporation prior to the chromatographic separation. Selective detection is achieved by using a fluorescence detector. The method allows assay of concentrations down to 10 pmol of the two forms of prajmaline in 1 ml of plasma with a relative standard deviation below 5 %.