Micellar liquid chromatographic method for the simultaneous determination of citalopram hydrobromide with its two demethylated metabolites. Utility as a diagnostic tool in forensic toxicology.

A micellar liquid chromatographic method has been developed for the simultaneous determination of citalopram hydrobromide (CTA) with its two demethylated metabolites namely; desmethyl citalopram hydrochloride (DCTA) and didesmethyl citalopram tartrate (DDCTA). Separation was conducted on a C18 column using a mobile phase composed of 0.18 M sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS), 15% 1-propanol, 0.3% tri-ethylamine, adjusted to pH 4 with 0.2 M o-phosphoric acid and adopting UV detection at 240 nm. Analysis was performed at 60 °C applying a flow rate of 2 mL/min. The proposed method was linear over the concentration ranges of 1.0-200.0, 0.6-200.0, and 0.5-200.0 μg/mL for CTA, DCTA, and DDCTA respectively, with corresponding limits of detection (LOD) of 0.5, 0.4, and 0.3 μg/mL and limits of quantification (LOQ) of 0.8, 0.5, and 0.4 μg/mL. The method was fully validated which allowed its application for the determination of CTA in its tablets. Moreover, the proposed method was extended to assay CTA with its metabolites in rat tissue organs samples which allowed the method to be used as a diagnostic tool in forensic toxicology.