High–performance liquid chromatographic determination of nitrofurantoin in plasma

A reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic method for the analysis of nitrofurantoin in rabbit plasma was developed. Acetanilide was used as the internal standard. The chromatography was performed using a C-18 column; the mobile phase consisted of 75:25 water to methanol; a flow rate of 0.9 ml/min; and UV detection at 270 nm. Retention times were 5.8 and 10.1 min for nitrofurantoin and acetanilide, respectively. Recovery of nitrofurantoin added to plasma in the concentration range of 0.05-5 mug/ml was found to be greater than 92%. This procedure was used for the analysis of plasma samples collected over time following the oral administration of nitrofurantoin tablets to rabbits.