Determination of Saccharin in Plasma and Urine by High Performance Liquid Chromatography

Abstract
A sensitive and specific high performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) assay for the determination of saccharin in plasma and urine was developed. Saccharin is extracted into diethyl ether at acid pH, evaporated, and reconstituted prior to instrumental analysis. Overall recovery of saccharin is 86.9 + 8.6% and the sensitivity limits of detection is 0.15 μg per ml of plasma or urine using a fluorescence detector. The sensitivity limit in plasma can be extended to 20 ng per ml by use of a 2 ml assay volume and detector attenuation. The assay was used for the determination of saccharin in plasma and urine of rats following oral doses of 5 mg/kg.