Determination of droperidol in plasma by liquid chromatography

A reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatographic method is described for the determination of droperidol concentrations in plasma. Following extraction, separation of droperidol and the internal standard flurazepam was achieved with a Spherisorb Nitrile, 5 microns, S5CN 250 mm x 4.6 mm column at 200 nm. The mobile phase was phosphate buffer (0.05 M, pH 2.4), acetonitrile and ethanol (65:20:15, v/v/v). The assay was rapid, sensitive and linear over the range 2-4000 ng ml-1. Precision of the assay expressed as the intra- and inter-day relative standard deviations (%RSD) did not exceed 10%. Flunitrazepam, midazolam and nitrazepam were also resolved with this technique and did not interfere with droperidol or flurazepam. Resolution of all five compounds was complete in less than 6 min. The assay was used to study the pharmacokinetics of high dose droperidol infusions during and after cardiac surgery.