Quantitative Analysis of Emetine and Cephaeline by Reversed-Phase High Performance Liquid Chromatography with Fluorescence Detection

Abstract
A versatile method for the quantitation of emetine and cephaeline in biological samples is described. Two milliliters of samples containing N-propylprocainamide as the internal standard are buffered to pH 9 and extracted with n-butyl chloride. After subsequent back extraction into 0.01M hydrochloric acid, a portion of the acid layer is analyzed by reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection. Routinely, the minimum level of detection for both drugs is 5 ng/mL and linearity is demonstrated from 5 to 2500 ng/mL.