Quantitative deconvolution of heavily fused chromatographic peaks of biological components using a multi-wavelength...

Quantitative deconvolution of a chromatographic peak with extremely low UV absorption (less than 0.005 A.U.) is demonstrated for the analysis of an anaesthetic (ketamine) in rabbit serum. One ketamine metabolite, nor-ketamine, was deconvoluted from a completely fused peak in the three-dimensional chromatogram by using a highly sensitive multi-wavelength UV detector. After injection of ketamine, the nor-ketamine level in the serum increased to 3 micrograms/ml, calculated as ketamine, in 120 min.