Reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography method for the determination of paraquat in whole blood

Abstract

In this paper, a high performance liquid chromatography technique is established for quantification of paraquat in blood. Samples were pretreated by mixing with hydrochloric acid for precipitation of protein, followed by acetonitrile extraction, ultrasonication, centrifugation, and filtration. In addition, with sodium heptane–acetonitrile–water (1.82 g/50 mL/450 mL) buffer solution as the mobile phase and a C₁₈ column as the stationary phase, liquid chromatography separation and determination was carried out on samples of paraquat using a variable wavelength UV detector. The linear range was 0.3–30 μg mL⁻¹ (R = 0.9999) with a minimum detection limit for paraquat of 0.026 μg mL⁻¹ (S/N ≧ 3), and limit of quantification of 0.08 μg mL⁻¹. Moreover, the method proposed here is sensitive and accurate, and should have a bright future in numerous practical applications.