Application of liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry to the analysis of benzodiazepines in blood.

A sensitive and selective high-performance liquid chromatography/atmospheric pressure chemical ionisation tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC/APCI-MS/MS) method for the simultaneous detection of 18 benzodiazepines and metabolites in human blood is described. The procedure utilises butyl chloride extraction at alkaline pH followed by reversed-phase liquid chromatography. The technique is suitable for screening analyses and confirmation of identity of the benzodiazepines at their lowest reported therapeutic concentrations using 500 microL of blood. The method has been successfully applied in forensic cases involving low concentrations of benzodiazepines.