Determination of roxatidine in human plasma, urine and milk by capillary gas chromatography using nitrogen-selective detection.

An assay is described for the determination of roxatidine in human plasma, urine and milk by gas chromatography. Roxatidine is extracted from the basified matrix with dichloromethane and esterified with propionic anhydride prior to analysis of the extracts by capillary gas chromatography using a nitrogen-specific detector. Detection limits are 5 ng/ml for plasma and milk and 1 microgram/ml for urine, making the assay suitable for obtaining pharmacokinetic data from volunteer trials.