Seven butyrophenones in human whole blood were analyzed by LC/MS/MS using a new polymer column (MSpak GF-310), which enabled direct injection of crude biological samples without complicated pretreatments. The quantitation was made by mass chromatography for each product ion, The recoveries were more than 50% for haloperidol, bromperidol, moperone and spiroperidol at 80 ng/ml in whole blood, but less than 10% for pimozide. The regression equations showed good linearity for haloperidol, bromperidol, moperone and spiroperidol in the range of 10-80 ng/ml, for timiperone in the range of 20-80 ng/ml and for pimozide in the range of 50-200 ng/ml using the chlorinated analog of haloperidol as internal standard, Their detection limits were about 5 ng/ml for haloperidol, bromperidol, moperone and spiroperidol, about 10 ng/ml for timiperone and about 25 ng/ml for pimozide. Thus, the present method seems useful for sensitive and specific detection and determination of their high therapeutic and toxic levels present in biological specimens including whole blood.journal articl
