SUMMARY
The method of milnacipran isolation with chloroform from the dehydrated biological material with subsequent extraction purification in the n-hexane-acetonitrile solvent system has been developed. The method developed has allowed to isolate 47±5% of the antidepressant. The TLC-screening method of a number of antidepressants has been developed using four mobile phases with a low correlation and the sequential scheme of visualization by a set of chromogenic reagents. It has allowed to separate milnacipran, venlafaxine, amitriptyline, fluoxetine and sertraline. As differentiating reagents the Liebermann’s reagent and the Mandelin’s reagent in modification consisting in sequential treatment of the sample by the Mandelin’s reagent and formaldehyde vapours have been suggested. The methods of identification and quantitative determination of milnacipran in the biological material after the TLC purification using HPLC with multiwave UV-spectrophotometric detection have been developed. The calibration curve of the dependence of the peak area on the concentration was described by the following equation: Y=5.14·10-5X; linearity was within the concentration range of 24.2-500 µg/ml; LOD and LOQ were 8.0 and 24.2 µg/ml (at 262 nm), respectively. The results obtained can be used in forensic toxicology for diagnosing milnacipran poisonings.