Simultaneous determination of haloperidol and its reduced metabolite in serum and plasma by isocratic liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection.

We describe a liquid-chromatographic method for simultaneous quantification of haloperidol and its reduced metabolite in plasma and serum. Haloperidol and reduced haloperidol are concentrated from blood samples by liquid/liquid extraction into a hexane/isoamyl alcohol mixture, with chlorohaloperidol as the internal standard. For chromatographic separation we used a reversed-phase cyano-bonded column and a mobile phase of pH 6.8 phosphate buffer/acetonitrile (55/45 by vol). Haloperidol and its reduced metabolite are detected electrochemically at +0.90 V potential between the working and reference electrodes. As little as 0.5 ng per injection is detectable. Within- and between-day CVs for determinations of haloperidol and reduced haloperidol ranged from 4 to 7% each at a concentration of 10 micrograms/L. Haloperidol concentrations measured by this method correlated well with those by gas-chromatography with nitrogen-sensitive detector and by radioimmunoassay. The present method can be used to study the effects of haloperidol on the central nervous system. It is simple enough for use in clinical laboratories that are monitoring haloperidol concentrations in the blood of psychiatric patients.