A method for the simultaneous identification and quantitation of five superwarfarin rodenticides in human serum

A high-performance liquid chromatographic method with ultraviolet (UV) and fluorescence detection was developed for the analysis of one indandione and four hydroxycoumarin anticoagulant rodenticides in human serum. The superwarfarin rodenticides, chlorophacinone, bromadiolone, difenacoum, brodifacoum, and difethialone, can be identified and quantitated simultaneously with this method. After adding a buffer (pH 5.5), the anticoagulants were extracted from serum with chloroform-acetone. The organic phase was separated and evaporated to dryness, and the residue was subjected to chromatographic analysis. The anticoagulants were separated by reversed-phase chromatography and detected by UV absorption at 285 nm and by fluorescence at an excitation wavelength of 265 nm and an emission wavelength of 400 nm. Extraction efficiencies from 55 to 131% were obtained. The within-run precision ranged from 2.0 to 7.1% for UV detection and from 0.0 to 4.8% for fluorescence detection. Between-run precision ranged from 1.3 to 16.0% for UV detection and from 1.8 to 9.0% for fluorescence detection. The anticoagulants can be quantitated at serum concentrations down to 3-12 ng/mL for fluorescence detection and down to 20-75 ng/mL for UV detection. No interferences were observed with the related compounds warfarin and vitamin K1.