Postmortem stability of benzodiazepines in blood and tissues

The stability of benzodiazepines in blood and tissues was examined in this study. Specifically, diazepam, chlordiazepoxide, flurazepam, and their desalkyl metabolites were studied over several months. Diazepam, flurazepam, and N-1-desalkylflurazepam were stable when stored in blood at room temperature while chlordiazepoxide, norchlordiazepoxide, and nordiazepam were found to be unstable under similar storage conditions. Data from tissues containing these chemicals corroborated the results from blood.