Simultaneous determination of haloperidol and bromperidol and their reduced metabolites by liquid–liquid extraction and automated column-switching high-performance liquid chromatography

This study describes a new simultaneous determination of haloperidol and bromperidol and their reduced metabolites by modification of automated column-switching high-performance liquid chromatography. The test compounds were extracted from 1 ml of plasma using chloroform–hexane (30:70 (v/v)), and the extract was injected into a hydrophilic metaacrylate polymer column for clean-up and a C18 analytical column for separation. The mobile phases consisted of phosphate buffer (0.02 M, pH 4.6), perchloric acid (60%) and acetonitrile (54:1:45 (v/v)) and was delivered at a flow-rate of 0.6 ml/min. The peak was detected using a UV detector set at 215 nm. The method was validated for the concentration range 1–100 ng/ml, and good linearity (r>0.999) was confirmed. Intra-day coefficient variations (CVs) for haloperidol, reduced haloperidol, bromperidol and reduced bromperidol were less than 2.5, 3.1, 2.4 and 2.5%, respectively. Inter-day CVs for corresponding compounds were 3.9, 5.1, 2.6 and 4.4%, respectively. Relative errors ranged from −5 to 10% and mean recoveries were 96–100%. The limit of quantification was 1.0 ng/m for each compound. This method shows good specificity with respect to commonly prescribed psychotropic drugs, and it could be successfully applied for pharmacokinetic studies and therapeutic drug monitoring, particularly in patients receiving both haloperidol and bromperidol.