High-pressure liquid chromatographic analysis of aniline and its metabolites

A high-pressure liquid chromatographic method has been developed for the determination of nanomole quantities of aniline; its metabolites o- and p-aminophenol, phenylhydroxylamine, nitrosobenzene and nitrobenzene; and azobenzene and azoxybenzene which form non-enzymatically by condensation of reactive metabolites. These compounds were separated by reverse-phase chromatography (mu-Bondapak C18 column) and detected spectrophotometrically. The first four components were eluted using methanol-water (15:85) containing 0.26 M ammonium acetate and 0.015 M nickel acetate as mobile phase. The remaining compounds were eluted with methanol-water (50:50). The stabilities of the metabolites were studied electrochemically and results were used in the development of the chromatographic system.