LC of high to moderately polar basic drugs in urine with water and detergent, and direct injection

Abstract

Background: Micellar LC was first proposed as a ‘green’ mode using mobile phases of water and surfactant. However, in most procedures a small amount of organic solvent is required to decrease the retention to convenient values. Results & methodology: Mixed micellar mobile phases prepared with both cationic (sodium dodecyl sulphate) and nonionic surfactant (Brij-35) modulate the retention of high to moderately polar basic drugs to practical times, eliminating the need of organic solvent. While the mobile phase is continuously recycled through the system, the stationary phase performance is maintained after repetitive injection of the samples. Discussion & conclusion: Through an extensive validation, the approach is shown to be appropriate to determine these drugs in urine samples without previous pretreatment.