An investigation of high-performance liquid chromatographic methods for the analysis of amphetamines

Three pre-column derivatization reagents, namely o-phthalaldehyde, 4-chloro-7-nitro-benz-2,1,3-oxadiazole, sodium naphthaquinone-4-sulphonate and two ion-pair reagents, namely, naphthalene-2-sulphonate and sodium dodecylsulphate have been investigated for their suitability for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of urine and plasma samples containing amphetamines. The derivatization method employing sodium naphthaquinone-4-sulphonate was found to be selective and sufficiently sensitive for the routine determination of amphetamine and methylamphetamine in urine and plasma samples at the ng/ml level.