Application of a computer-assisted high-performance liquid chromatographic multi-wavelength ultraviolet detection...

An emergency drug screening system for the separation and identification of toxic drugs, MULTI-HPLC, is presented. Chromatographic peaks, which were impossible to identify with a conventional high-performance liquid chromatographic UV detection system, became distinguishable by the spectral search and retention prediction of the data-processing program MCASYST. Sixty-five toxic drugs, frequently identified in drug poisionings in Japan, were selected as references in the drug library. Retention time, optimum detection wavelength, detection limit and recoveries from serum and urine were listed. Possible applications of the system are demonstrated, using gastric contents, sera and urines in cases of multiple drug ingestion. Quantitative analysis was sufficiently sensitive and precise to permit clinical diagnosis with increased accuracy.