Analysis of drugs in plasma samples from schizophrenic patients by column-switching liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry with organic-inorganic hybrid cyanopropyl monolithic column.

This study reports on the development of a rapid, selective, and sensitive column-switching liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method to analyze sixteen drugs (antidepressants, anticonvulsants, anxiolytics, and antipsychotics) in plasma samples from schizophrenic patients. The developed organic-inorganic hybrid monolithic column with cyanopropyl groups was used for the first dimension of the column-switching arrangement. This arrangement enabled online pre-concentration of the drugs (monolithic column) and their subsequent analytical separation on an XSelect SCH C18 column. The drugs were detected on a triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometer (multiple reactions monitoring mode) with an electrospray ionization source in the positive ion mode. The developed method afforded adequate linearity for the sixteen target drugs; the coefficients of determination (R(2)) lay above 0.9932, the interassay precision had coefficients of variation lower than 6.5%, and the relative standard error values of the accuracy ranged from -14.0 to 11.8%. The lower limits of quantification in plasma samples ranged from 63 to 1250pgmL(-1). The developed method successfully analyzed the target drugs in plasma samples from schizophrenic patients for therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM).