Simultaneous determination of phencyclidine and its major metabolites in biological samples by high-performance liquid chromatography

A method for simultaneously quantifying phencyclidine (PCP) and two major metabolites, 1-(1-phenylcyclohexyl)-4-hydroxypiperidine [PCHP], 4-phenyl-4-piperidinocyclohexanol [PPC] has been developed. PCP and two major metabolites were extracted from biological samples, concentrated by evaporation, separated and detected by high-performance liquid chromatography with a UV detector (254 nm) using a 5C₁₈ reversed-phase column with a buffered mobile phase containing 65% methanol and 1% triethylamine. Chromatography time was less than 4 min and the retention times for PPC, PCHP and PCP were 2.0, 2.3 and 2.6 min, respectively. The high degree of selectivity and sensitivity (ng limits for each component) makes this method directly applicable to extremely small samples. The utility of this method for pharmacological studies is illustrated by using hepatic 9,000 x g supernatant (S9) fractions from mice, rats and rabbits. It appeared that there were species differences in the rate of PCP disposition by hepatic drug metabolizing enzyme.