Detailed below is a simple reversed-phase liquid chromatography (RP-LC) method for the simultaneous separation of up to 21 acidic, basic, and neutral pharmaceuticals using Merck Chromolith Performance RP-C18e monolithic columns with direct ultraviolet (UV) absorption detection. By simultaneously applying a solvent elution gradient program with a mobile phase flow gradient, both a decrease in the overall analysis time and a general increase in peak efficiencies were observed. Mobile phase pH and buffer concentration were optimised using the overall resolution product under applied gradient conditions. Under optimised conditions peak area reproducibility (n = 6) ranged between 0.4 and 9.3%, determined at the method LOQ level. For real sample analysis pharmaceutical residues were extracted using an optimised solid phase extraction (SPE) procedure, utilising Strata-X extraction cartridges, which overall provided the highest relative recovery data in comparison with four other commercially available SPE sorbents (17 out of 20 residues investigated had recoveries over 70%). Complete method precision, including all sample pre-treatment and LC analysis for six spiked river water samples at the 1 and 2 μgL-1 level was between 10 and 29%. Using 1L volumes of 1 μgL-1 spiked estuarine water samples, the majority of detection limits were found to be in the 10-50 ng L-1 range. © 2006 Taylor & Francis.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Research Division:	Chemical Sciences
Research Group:	Analytical chemistry
Research Field:	Separation science
Objective Division:	Expanding Knowledge
Objective Group:	Expanding knowledge
Objective Field:	Expanding knowledge in the chemical sciences
UTAS Author:	Nesterenko, PN (Professor Pavel Nesterenko)
UTAS Author:	Paull, B (Professor Brett Paull)
ID Code:	47760
Year Published:	2006
Web of Science® Times Cited:	16
Deposited By:	Chemistry
Deposited On:	2007-09-20
Last Modified:	2011-08-18
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