High-pressure liquid chromatographic method for the simultaneous quantitative analysis of propranolol and 4-hydroxypropranolol in plasma.

A simple and rapid high-pressure liquid chromatographic procedure is reported for the simultaneous quantitative determination of propranolol and 4-hydroxypropranolol in plasma. Following an extraction the samples are chromatographed on a reversed-phase column and the components in the column effluent are detected by fluorescence monitoring. Using 1-ml plasma samples propranolol and 4-hydroxypropranolol concentrations at least as low as 1 ng/ml and 5 ng/ml, respectively, can be quantitated. The reproducibility of the method is satisfactory and no interference from endogenous plasma components or other drugs has been observed. A single plasma sample can be analyzed in approximately 20 min.