NCJ Number
226720
Journal
Problems of Forensic Sciences Volume: 70 Dated: 2007 Pages: 187-197
Date Published
2007
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This paper reports on research that developed a complete analytical procedure for the detection of selected tricyclic antidepressant drugs (TCAD) in blood that involved liquid-liquid extraction supported by microwave-assisted extraction (MAE), along with evaluation of the validation parameters of the method of detection of these drugs by high performance liquid chromatography.
Abstract
The research showed that the application of microwaves to the extraction of TCAD from blood samples was effective and in the future could be used in routine toxicological analysis for forensic purposes. Additional experiments are required, however, in order to analyze various control samples and reference materials for the purpose of checking the reliability of the developed analytical procedure. The MAE efficiency was superior to that of classical liquid-liquid extraction (LLE), with MAE efficiency being 80-100 percent compared to LLE efficiency of 60-70 percent. Another positive feature of MAE is that all drugs are extracted at the same level (above 70 percent). This method reduced the time of extraction to 3 minutes due to the application of the characteristic and specific process of extraction mixture heating. In preliminary research, the MAE procedure was optimized by extracting the psychotropic drugs of nordoxepine, nortryptyline, amitryptyline, imipramine, doxepine, and desipramine in aqueous solutions. In the next step, tests were performed on samples of human blood spiked with TCAD. Validation of the method was also conducted in this type of matrix. Microwave-assisted extraction was conducted at 60 degrees C with a mixture of n-hexane-isoamyl alcohol (99:1, v/v). Validation parameters for each compound were determined: detection limit (0.03-0.09 mg/ml); quantification limit (0.11-0.22 mg/ml); repeatability for two different concentrations (0.2 mg/ml: 4.28-18.05 RSD percent; 0.8 mg/ml: 2.43-10-18 RSD percent); and linearity (0.15-2.00 mg/ml). 3 tables, 2 figures, and 12 references