Determination of trimecaine metabolites in blood plasma by capillary isotachophoresis.

A method is proposed for the determination of trimecaine (diethylglycylmesidide) and its de-ethylated metabolites (monoethylglycylmesidide and glycylmesidide) in blood plasma by capillary isotachophoresis. The deproteinated plasma is extracted into chloroform after alkalinization and the total solids in the organic layer are dissolved in acidified 25% 2-propanol. Subsequent isotachophoretic analysis is performed in an operational system consisting of potassium acetate buffer (pH 4.75) as the leading and beta-alanine as the terminating electrolyte. The order of the zones corresponds to the molecular weights of the separated compounds. The recovery of all substances of interest is 55% and the limit of determination is 0.05 micrograms of each substance in 1 ml of plasma.