Simultaneous high-pressure liquid-chromatographic determination of some anticonvulsants in serum

We describe procedures for simultaneously determining some anticonvulsants (phenobarbital, diphenylhydantoin, primidone, ethosuximide, methsuximide, carbamazepine) in serum by high-pressure liquid chromatography. The drugs, together with an internal standard, phenacetin, are adsorbed from serum onto charcoal and eluted from it with organic solvent. The eluate is analyzed isocratically on a reverse-phase column with a mobile phase consisting of acetonitrile/water (17/83 by volume). The eluted drugs are detected by their absorption at 195 nm, and quantities estimated from their peak areas as compared with those of extracted standards. Results are reproducible to about 6%. Sensitivities, for 0.5-ml serum samples, of 0.1 mg/liter for all the drugs analyzed except ethosuximide (0.5 mg/liter) are attained routinely. Correlation of results with gas chromatography was 0.912 for phenobarbital, 0.982 for diphenylhydantoin, 0.886 for primidone, and 0.966 for ethosuximide. Amobarbital and secobarbital interfere with the analysis; chlordiazepoxide, methaqualone, salicylate, diazepam, and oxazepam do not. Including extraction, analysis time for a single sample is 20 min.