Analysis of carbamazepine in serum by liquid chromatography with direct sample injection and surfactant-containing eluents

Surfactant-containing eluents are evaluated for the analysis of carbamazepine in serum with conventional reversed-phase columns. Bovine serum was quantitatively eluted at the column void volume using surfactant concentrations in conventional reversed-phase eluents. The effect of pH, guard columns and column switching was evaluated with respect to separating and detecting clinical levels of the drug and its primary metabolite. Column lifetime was also investigated.