Metabolism of demoxepam, a chlordiazepoxide metabolite, in the dog

Toxicity in a case of acute and massive overdose of chlordiazepoxide and its correlation to blood concentration

In previous studies no correlation between blood concentration and toxicity was found in acute chlordiazepoxide overdose. We describe a case of acute overdosage with 5.2 g chlordiazepoxide, in which toxicity correlated to blood concentration of the second metabolite of chlordiazepoxide, to demoxepam. Therefore, it is recommended to determine not only chlordiazepoxide, but also its active metabolites in cases of overdose. This can easily been achieved using the described method, HPLC with photodiode array detection.

Determination of N-desmethyldiazepam in plasma by gas chromatography with an internal standard

N-Desmethyldiazepam in plasma has been determined by gas chromatography with electron capture detection, using N-desmethyltetrazepam as internal standard and a column filled Poly-A 103 on Gas-Chrom Q. No prior transformation of benzodiazepines is necessary. The sensitivity is ca.1 ng/ml and the recovery is greater than or equal to 70%. The method is particularly suitable for the pharmacokinetic study of dipotassium clorazepate: the amount of unchanged clorazepate may be estimated from the difference between the amount of N-desmethyldiazepam present initially and the total amount of N-desmethyldiazepam obtained after acidic treatment of the sample; the method is also useful for therapeutic control and for analytical toxicology.