Gas-chromatographic micro-scale procedure for theophylline, with use of a nitrogen-sensitive detector.

We report a micro-scale procedure for determination of theophylline by use of gas chromatography with nitrogen-sensitive detection. The procedure requires only 10 mul of serum, plasma, or saliva. This sample size makes the determination especially appropriate for monitoring in a pediatric population. With the sample volume used, background interference is equivalent to about 0.1 mg/liter and 0.5 mg of theophylline per liter can easily be measured. The new method correlates well with our earlier flame ionization gas-chromatographic procedure that required 1 ml of sample [Clin. Chem. 21, 1038 (1975)]. The selectiviey of the nitrogen detector allows a simplified extraction procedure. Between-run precision (CV) is 2.8% at a theophylline concentration of 14.8 mg/liter.