HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHIC METHOD FOR THE DETERMINATION OF NEFAZODONE AND ITS METABOLITES IN HUMAN PLASMA USING LABORATORY ROBOTICS

A quantitative analytical method, using high-performance liquid chromatography and ultraviolet detection, has been established for the determination of nefazodone (NEF) and its metabolites, m-chlorophenylpiperazine (mCPP), p-hydroxynefazodone (PHN), and hydroxynefazodone (HO-NEF), in human plasma. The fully automated, robotic procedure consisted of addition of internal standard (aprindine), extraction with butyl chloride, followed by phase separation, organic phase evaporation, reconstitution of the residue, and injection onto the chromatographic system. The limits of detection for NEF, mCPP, PHN, and HO-NEF were 5, 1, 10, and 5 ng/ml, respectively, at a signal-to-noise ratio of 4. The method had a linear range of 10-1000 ng/ml for NEF and HO-NEF, 20-2000 ng/ml for PHN, and 2.5-250 ng/ml for mCPP. Correlation coefficients of 0.996 or greater were obtained during validation and study sample analysis.