The quantitation of triazolam in postmortem blood by gas chromatography/negative ion chemical ionization mass spectrometry.

A specific and sensitive assay has been developed to quantitate triazolam in postmortem blood using 2H6-triazolam as an internal standard. Triazolam is isolated from whole blood by adsorption on an Amberlite XAD-2 resin and subsequent elution with an organic solvent. The extract is analyzed by gas chromatography/mass spectometry using selected ion monitoring (GC/MS/SIM) in the negative chemical ionization mode (Cl-). The procedure is presently being used in case work and the results from 36 cases are presented.