Determination of nitrates in plasma

Because of the high efficacy of existing nitrates, alternative dosage formulations have been developed rather than new compounds. These new formulations challenge the analyst to develop analytical methods with lower sensitivity and higher precision. Isosorbide dinitrate is analysed in the presence of its major metabolites isosorbide 2-mononitrate and isosorbide 5-mononitrate. The present method is an improvement over previously published methods. It is not possible to analyse glyceryl trinitrate and its major metabolites 1,2-glyceryl dinitrate and 1,3-glyceryl dinitrate with the necessary sensitivity in one chromatogram. A 2-step procedure is therefore applied. The extraction procedures, the gas chromatographic conditions, imprecision and inaccuracy of the methods, the lower limits of quantitation, sample chromatograms and applications of all methods are described in detail. Thus, the possibilities of modern analytical methods in the determination of nitrates in the lower picogram region are demonstrated.