Methods are presented for the quantitative determination of ZIMELIDINE, a new antidepressant drug, and its active metabolite norZIMELIDINE in biological material (whole blood, plasma, urine and rat brain). The extraction is optimized regarding recoveries and blank chromatograms and the compounds are separated by high performance ion-pair liquid chromagraphy with perchlorate as counter ion in the stationary phase. Internal standards are chlorpheniramine and the geometrical isomer to norzimelidine. The precision for determinations in plasma ranges 2 - 7 (CV) for the concentrations 100 - 5 ng/ml, and the detection limits are 150 pg/ml but can be lowered about five times by using larger sample volumes. The selectivity against metabolites is investigated and the use of the method in routine is discussed. The isolation and identification of the primary amine metabolite by collecting the peak for subsequent GC-MS-analysis is demonstrated.
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