A rapid high performance liquid chromatographic method was developed and validated for the determination of a-lipoic acid in pharmaceutical dosage forms. The analysis was performed using a reversed phase Supelcosil LC-18 (150 Â 4 mm, 3 mm) column. The mobile phase consisted of acetonitrile : 0.05 M potassium mono-phosphate, pH 2.5 (45 : 55 v/v) at a flow rate of 0.8 mL/min. The UV-detector was set at 332 nm. The developed method showed a good linear relationship in the concentration range from 10 -500 mg/mL with a correlation coefficient from 0.9999. The limit of detection and limit of quantification were 4.4 and 16.8 mg/ mL, respectively. These values are high due to the low absorption coefficient of pure lipoic acid (1 ¼ 150) at 332 nm. Statistical analysis proves that the method is reproducible.

The purpose of the paper was to compare the performance of ETS (EMIT) and ADx (FPIA) analyzers for screening blood samples for drugs of abuse after 2 alternative pretreatment procedures (acetone precipitation and ultrafiltration). Cannabinoids, benzodiazepines and benzoylecgonine were not detectable with both assays after ultrafiltration. The detectability of morphine in blood ultrafiltrates was distinctly lower than after acetone precipitation. The comparison of results obtained with ETS and ADx after acetone precipitation showed that ETS assay is slightly more sensitive but ADx is slightly more reproducible. Both assays may be used for blood examination with similar cut-off values. The ETS analyzer gave much better analytical performance (speed, flexibility) and lower reagent costs than the ADx analyzer.

A validated high performance liquid chromatographic method was developed for the determination of chromium picolinate in pharmaceutical dosage forms. The analysis was performed at room temperature using a reversed-phase Supelcosil LC-18 (250 x 4.6 mm, 5 microm) column. The mobile phase consisted of acetonitrile:water (40:60 v/v) at a fl ow rate of 0.8 mL/min. The UV-detector was set at 264 nm. The developed method showed a good linear relationship in the concentration range from 0.125 to 12.5 microg/mL with a correlation coefficient from 0.999. The limit of detection and limit of quanti fi cation were 0.091 and 0.181 microg/mL, respectively.