Comparison of electrochemical detection methods in liquid chromatography for the determination of N-acetylcysteine in plasma.

Three electrochemical detection systems for the liquid chromatography of N-acetylcysteine in plasma have been compared: a dropping-mercury electrode detector, an amalgamated-gold electrode detector and a system in which iodine is generated electrochemically in the column effluent. The last detector approaches the reproducibility of the first (R.S.D. = 2%) and is as sensitive as the second, with a detection limit of 0.1 micrograms/ml plasma.