An isocratic reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic system is described for resolving theophylline, acetaminophen, caffeine, chloramphenicol, ethosuximide, primidone, phenobarbital, phenytoin, and carbamazepine within 7 min. A procedure for routinely measuring these drugs in serum is validated and has been extended to include the quantification of N-desmethylmethsuximide, barbital, amobarbital, secobarbital, pentobarbital, mephobarbital, and thiopental. A 250 x 4.6 mm column packed with trimethylsilyl (C-1)-coated 5-microns particles is used. The mobile phase is phosphate buffer (10 mmol/L, pH 6.3):methanol:acetonitrile, 65:17.5:17.5. A common solvent extraction procedure is used for all of these drugs. The extractant is chloroform:isopropanol (95:5), containing three internal standards: 3-isobutyl-l-methylxanthine (IMX), tolybarb, and methsuximide. Theophylline, acetaminophen, caffeine, and chloramphenicol are quantified at 273 nm with IMX as the internal standard. With two exceptions, the rest of the drugs are quantified at 204 nm using tolybarb as the internal standard; ethosuximide is quantified at 204 nm using methsuximide as the internal standard, and thiopental is quantified at 285 nm using IMX as the internal standard.