Combined liquid chromatography-coulometric detection and microextraction by packed sorbent for the plasma analysis of long acting opioids in heroin addicted patients.

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Authors: Somaini L, Saracino MA, Marcheselli C, Zanchini S, Gerra G, Raggi MA
Abstract
The sublingual combination of buprenorphine and naloxone (Suboxone(®)) and Methadone Maintenance Therapy have been found effective in treating heroin addiction. A new analytical method suitable for the simultaneous determination of buprenorphine, norbuprenorphine, methadone and naloxone in human plasma by means of liquid chromatography with coulometric detection has been developed. The chromatographic separation was achieved with a phosphate buffer-acetonitrile mixture as the mobile phase on a cyano column. The monitoring cell of the coulometric detector was set at an oxidation potential of +0.600V. A rapid clean-up procedure of the biological samples using a microextraction by packed sorbent te…