Gas chromatographic determination of m- and p-hydroxyphenytoin in the urine of epileptic patients.

An analytical method for determining phenytoin and its metabolites in the urine of epileptic patients is described. The analysis was performed for the m- and p-isomers of hydroxyphenytoin, the oxidative products of phenytoin, using gas chromatography. As an internal standard, 5-(4-methylphenyl)-5-phenylhydantoin was chosen; the extraction solvent from human urine was ether-chloroform (3:7). Phenytoin and its hydroxy isomers were satisfactorily determined by the modified on-column methylation technique on a 2% OV-17 column using temperature programming from 180 degrees C to 240 degrees C at 5 degrees C/min.