Simultaneous quantitation of quinidine, procainamide, and N-acetylprocainamide in serum by gas-liquid chromatography with a nitrogen-phosphorus selective detector.

We describe a single-run method for quantitating quinidine, procainamide, and N-acetylprocainamide, involving gas-liquid chromatography with a nitrogen-phosphorus selective detector. Within-run precision (CV) was 3% (x = 2 mg/L, n = 20), 6.9% (x = 4 mg/L, n = 10), and 1.5% (x = 8 mg/L, n = 8) for quinidine; 7.7% (x = 4 mg/L, n = 14), 1.6% (x = 8 mg/L, n = 16), and 2.3% (x = 12 mg/L, n = 12) for procainamide; and 6.3% (x = 5 mg/L, n = 6), 3.6% (x = 10 mg/L, n = 20), and 4.0% (x = 20 mg/L, n = 10) for N-acetylprocainamide.l Between-run precision was 3.0%(x = 2 mg/L, n = 20), 7.0% (x = 4 mg/L, n = 9), and 2.8% (x = 8 mg/L, n = 9) for quinidine; 4.7% (x = 4 mg/L, n = 10). 3.3% (x = 8 mg/L, n = 20), and 1.9% (x = 12 mg/L, n = 10) for procainamide; and 9.3% (x = 5 mg/L, n = 6), 4.3% (x = 10 mg/L, n = 20), and 3.8% (x = 20 mg/L, n = 10) for N-acetylprocainamide. Tube stoppers that contain a rubber plasticizer interfere with the technique. Clinical application and correlation with drug concentrations by this technique are discussed.