title: Validated method for the therapeutic drug monitoring of flunitrazepam in human serum using liquid chromatography-atmospheric pressure chemical ionization tandem mass spectrometry with an ion trap detector.
abstract: An HPLC-MS-MS method for the quantitative analysis of flunitrazepam in human serum was established. The method features a very simple liquid-liquid extraction, the use of a standard 4-mm HPLC column, isocratic elution using a buffer-free solvent, short retention times in connection with good peak resolution and the sensitivity and selectivity of an ion trap MS-MS detector. The procedure enables unambiguous identification of analytes by their product ion spectra, as well as sensitive quantitation (limit of quantitation for flunitrazepam=0.5 ng/ml). This feature was used for the confirmation of HPLC-UV results for nitrazepam.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Pharmacology, University Hospital Magdeburg, Germany.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Darius
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Banditt
mesh_terms: D014151:Anti-Anxiety Agents / Q000097:blood*; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid / Q000379:methods*; D016903:Drug Monitoring; D005445:Flunitrazepam / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013056:Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet
chemical_list: D014151:Anti-Anxiety Agents; D005445:Flunitrazepam