DETERMINATION OF SERTRALINE AND DESMETHYLSERTRALINE IN HUMAN SERUM USING COPOLYMERIC BONDED-PHASE EXTRACTION, LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHY AND GAS-CHROMATOGRAPHY MASS-SPECTROMETRY

The determination of the new antidepressant drug sertraline and its main metabolite, desmethylsertraline, in human serum is described. A new solid-phase extraction method employing the dual functionality Clean Screen((R)) cartridge is presented followed by reversed-phase liquid chromatographic (LC) analysis. The sample preparation yielded extremely clean extracts and absolute recoveries in excess of 90% for both drugs from human serum. The response of the LC system was linear over the concentration range 0.01-2.5 mg/l for both sertraline and desmethylsertraline with a limit of detection of 0.01 mg/l. A gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric (CC-MS) system is also described should confirmation of the drugs be necessary.