Quantitative determination of zetidoline, a new antipsychotic agent, in human blood plasma and saliva using capillary gas chromatograph-mass spectrometry.

A specific and sensitive assay is described. Zetidoline is extracted with ethyl ether from 1 ml of plasma or saliva added with the internal standard. The extract is carefully purified and injected into a gas chromatography-mass spectrometry system equipped with a crosslinked capillary column and operated in single ion monitoring mode by electron impact. Quantitative response is linear in the range 2-50 ng/ml. The detection limit is 1 ng/ml.