Determination of tramadol in human plasma by capillary gas chromatography-mass spectrometry using solid-phase extraction.

An analytical method using solid-phase extraction, capillary gas chromatography and mass selective detection in the electron-impact ionization (EI) mode was developed for the determination of tramadol (2-[(dimethylamino)methyl]-1-(3-methoxyphenyl)cyclohexanol) in human plasma. The advantages of this method are the high sensitivity and selectivity and the linearity over the concentration range 2-500 ng/ml. Quantification was made using nefopam as an internal standard, and the detection limit was found to be 1 ng/ml. The standard deviations of the intra-day precision test ranged from 4.5 to 6.0% with respect to the concentration. Accuracy ranged from 1.0 to 4.0% (inter-day). The method was used for the determination of tramadol in a bioequivalence study.