Disposable Carbon Electrodes for Liquid Chromatographic Detection of Catecholamines in Blood Plasma Samples

Abstract This paper describes a comparative evaluation of disposable carbon electrodes and conventional glassy carbon electrodes. The detection of catecholamines was demonstrated in processed blood plasma and in the presence of catecholamine metabolites. Calibration plots of norepinephrine, epinephrine, 3,4‐dihydroxybenzylamine and dopamine were linear over three to four orders of magnitude with detection limits of 0.50, 0.73, 1.06, and 1.13 pg, respectively. The relative standard deviation of peak areas was ±2.3% for norepinephrine and ±5.3% for epinephrine from 30 injections of a 10 ng/mL mixed standard. Spike recoveries for norepinephrine, epinephrine, and dopamine from human blood plasma were 86±6%, 81±5%, and 77±4%, respectively.