As the basic study of therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) of β-receptor blocking drugs (β-blockers) by gas chromatography, retention indices were accumulated, and selectivity and sensitivity were compared by flame ionization detector (FID), nitrogen-phosphorus detector (NPD) and electron capture detector (ECD). Retention indices of 15 kinds of β-blockers and those trifluoroacetyl derivative (TFA deriv.) were 2076-3336, 1976-2754 (TFA deriv.) on weakly polar column (OV-17), and 1826-2815, 1860-2329 (TFA deriv.) on nonpolar column (OV-101). Under the same conditions, retention indices of 19 kinds of concurrent medication were also accumulated as reference materials for TDM. Selectivity was shown by peak area ratio of β-blockers to n-paraffins. Selectivity of NPD was almost 2×104 times that of FID. Detectable limits were 10 ng by FID, 0.1-1 ng by NPD and 0.01-0.1 ng (TFA deriv.) by ECD. NPD and ECD showed good selectivity and sensitivity for gas chromatographic analysis of β-blockers.
