DETERMINATION OF ETHAMBUTOL IN PLASMA BY HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHY WITH FLUORESCENCE DETECTION

A high-performance liquid chromatographic method for determining ethambutol (EMS) in plasma has been developed. The method involves the clean-up of plasma EMS with an Extrelut-1 column followed by the pre-column fluorescence derivatization of the drug with 9-fluorenylmethylchloroformate. EMB can be determined in the range of 0.18 - 18 nmol/ml, with a relative standard deviation of 1.88 - 3.39%. The method is applicable to the measurement of EMS concentration in rabbit plasma after single injection of EMB.