Extraction and analysis of chlorpromazine and its major metabolites in post mortem material by enzymic digestion and...

A method is described for the determination of chlorpromazine and some of its major metabolites in post mortem specimens by enzymic digestion of the tissues with ethyl acetate using a simple, single micro-extraction method, followed by HPLC of the extracts using a 10 micron silica column packing and a mobile phase consisting of ethanolamine:methanol:water. Separation and quantitation of 7-hydroxy-chlorpromazine, chlorpromazine, chlorpromazine sulfoxide, norchlorpromazine and norchlorpromazine sulfoxide was achieved employing mesoridazine as an internal standard.