Determination of 3'-azido-3'-deoxythymidine, 2',3'-dideoxycytidine, 3'-fluoro-3'-deoxythymidine and 2',3'-dideoxyinosine in biological samples by high-performance liquid chromatography.

A simple and fast high-performance liquid chromatographic assay for the determination of 3'-azido-3'-deoxythymidine (AZT), 2',3'-dideoxycytidine (ddC), 3'-fluoro-3'-deoxythymidine (FT) and 2',3'-dideoxy-inosine (ddI) in complex biological matrices is described. The method allows rapid nucleoside determination using a phenyl column within extra- as well as intracellular media without further sample pretreatment and extraction procedures. The lower limit of detection is ca. 0.05 micrograms/ml for each nucleoside, and the separation can easily be optimized for AZT, ddC, FT and ddI by variation of the methanolic part of the mobile phase and the detector wavelengths.