Determination of bromperidol in serum by automated column-switching high-performance liquid chromatography

A column-switching high-performance liquid chromatographic method with ultraviolet detection is described for the simple and rapid determination of bromperidol, a neuroleptic drug, in dog and human sera. The drug in serum and trifluperidol added to the serum as an internal standard were extracted with hexane-chloroform, and the extract was subjected to automated column-switching high-performance liquid chromatography using a hydrophilic metaacrylate polymer column (TSK gel PW precolumn) for sample clean-up and a reversed-phase column (TSK gel ODS-80TM) for separation. The detection limit of bromperidol is 0.3 ng/ml serum and the recovery of bromperidol added to serum (2.7-16.0 ng/ml) was satisfactory with a standard deviation of 3% or less.