Trace-level determination of 3'-azido-3'-deoxythymidine in human plasma by preconcentration on a silver (I)-thiol stationary phase with on-line reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography.

A method was developed for the determination of 3'-azido-3'-deoxythymidine (AZT) in plasma. The method is based on the trace enrichment of AZT on a pre-column packed with a silver-loaded thiol stationary phase at pH 11.6. On-line desorption to the reversed-phase liquid chromatographic system is performed by injecting a plug of 50 microliters of 1 M perchloric acid on the silver (I)-thiol pre-column. Two different sample pretreatment methods - protein precipitation with perchloric acid and on-line clean-up via a polymeric PRP-1 pre-column - were applied for the determination of AZT in human plasma. The latter method allows the direct injection of plasma samples into the analytical system and can therefore easily be automated. With both methods detection limits in the order of 10(-8) M AZT were obtained after preconcentration of 1.0 ml of plasma, using UV detection at 267 nm.