Determination of Chlorpromazine and Its Sulfoxide and 7-Hydroxy Metabolites by Ion-Pair High Pressure Liquid Chromatography

An ion-pair HPLC approach with ordinary silica has been applied, with detection by ultraviolet absorption, to the assay of plasma for chlorpromazine and its sulfoxide on the one hand, and for 7-hydroxychlorpromazine (an active metabolite) on the other hand. The respective sample-preparation procedures entail extraction of the plasma with heptane at strongly alkaline pH, or else with diethyl ether at a less alkaline pH and with ensuing back-extraction and re-extraction. For each of the compounds, levels as low as 10 ng.ml-1 are measurable. The conditions adopted are such that specificity and reproducibility are satisfactory although chlorpromazine and its various metabolites, especially 7-hydroxychlorpromazine, are chemically unstable and, moreover, are readily lost onto glass. With the unorthodox separation system adopted, adsorption rather than partition appears to be the dominant mechanism.