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DERIVATIVE UV SPECTROPHOTOMETRY USED FOR THE ASSAY OF DIAZEPAM FROM HUMAN BLOOD PLASMA

HADI EL LAKISS, MIHAELA ILIE^*, DANIELA LUIZA BACONI, DAN BĂLĂLĂU

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Therapeutic drug monitoring is a must when dealing with benzodiazepines, mainly at the beginning of the tratment and/or when changing the medication, in order to avoid accidental intoxications. Unfortunately, the assay methods are not handy in smaller medical facilities, as they require sophisticated devices, procedures and highly trained staff. The present paper aims to develop a simple UV derivative method for the assay of diazepam from human plasma without previous chemical separation of the drug, using the fourth derivative of the spectra and the integrated area of the peak (valley) ranging from 306 to 333 nm. The method can be used for small diazepam concentrations (2 to 10 μg/mL), which are in the range of therapeutic blood concentrations reported for diazepam.