Determination of propofol using high performance liquid chromatography in whole blood with fluorescence detection.

High-performance liquid chromatography method for the determination of propofol has been developed and validated. Following a liquid extraction using ethyl acetate and hexane, samples were separated by reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography on an XBridge C(18) column and quantified using fluorescence detection at an excitation of 276 nm and an emission of 310 nm. The mobile phase was a mixture of water (pH 4.0) and acetonitrile, with a flow rate of 1.5 mL/min. The standard curve ranged from 5-2000 ng/mL. Intra- and inter-assay variability for propofol was less than 10%, and the average recovery was greater than 95%. This assay is suitable for use in pharmacokinetic studies.