Improved method of determining thiamylal enantiomers in human serum by high-performance liquid chromatography

• Published in: Journal of chromatography. B, Biomedical sciences and applications Biomedical sciences and applications, 1999-02, Vol.723 (1), p.307-311
• Main Authors: Sueyasu, Masanori, Fujito, Kimihito, Makino, Kazutaka, Shuto, Hideki, Kataoka, Yasufumi, Oishi, Ryozo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Analysis; Anesthetics, Intravenous - blood; Biological and medical sciences; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid - methods; General pharmacology; Humans; Hypnotics and Sedatives - blood; Medical sciences; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; Reference Standards; Reproducibility of Results; Sensitivity and Specificity; Stereoisomerism; Thiamylal; Thiamylal - blood
• ISSN: 0378-4347; 1387-2273
• DOI: 10.1016/S0378-4347(98)00496-4

Thiamylal, a widely used anesthetic drug, has two enantiomers. We developed a simple and rapid method for measuring the thiamylal enantiomers in human serum. The method involves a liquid–liquid extraction procedure followed by chiral resolution using a 5 μm silica-bonded α 1-acid glycoprotein column (Chiral-AGP). The thiamylal enantiomers and internal standard were eluted within 15 min and were well-resolved. At concentrations of 1, 5 and 20 μg ml −1, the relative standard deviations of R(+)- and S(−)-thiamylal were 1.35–2.88% and 1.37–3.01%, respectively, for the intra-day assay, and 2.93–4.46% and 2.46–4.84%, respectively, for the inter-day assay. This method facilitates the routine monitoring and pharmacokinetic studies of thiamylal enantiomers.