Liquid Chromatographic Separation of Some Common Benzodiazepines and their Metabolites

Abstract

A series of benzodiazepines commonly encountered in forensic samples were separated using isocratic reversed-phase liquid chromatography. These compounds display a wide range of capacity factors on a C₁₈ stationary phase in a pH 8 phosphate buffer and methanol mobile phase. Clorazepate must be analyzed under basic mobile phase conditions to prevent its decomposition to N-desmethyldiazepam. The separation of common parent benzodiazepines such as chlordiazepoxide, diazepam and flurazepam from their corresponding metabolites was achieved under a variety of reversed-phase conditions.     

Determination of diazepam and its metabolites in human urine by liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry using a hydrophilic polymer column

Diazepam and its major metabolites, nordazepam, temazepam and oxazepam, in human urine samples, were analyzed by liquid chromatography (LC)/tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) using a hydrophilic polymer column (MSpak GF-310 4B), which enables direct injection of crude biological samples. Matrix compounds in urine were eluted first from the column, while the target compounds were retained on the polymer stationary phase. The analytes retained on the column were then eluted into an acetonitrile-rich mobile phase using a gradient separation technique. All compounds showed base-peak ions due to [M+H]+ ions on LC/MS with positive ion electrospray ionization, and product ions were produced from each [M+H]+ ion by LC/MS/MS. Quantification was performed by selected reaction monitoring. All compounds spiked into urine showed method recoveries of 50.1-82.0%. The regression equations for all compounds showed excellent linearity in the range of 0.5-500 ng/mL of urine. The limits of detection and quantification for each compound were 0.1 and 0.5 ng/mL of urine, respectively. The intra- and inter-day coefficients of variation for all compounds in urine were not greater than 9.6%. The data obtained from actual determination of diazepam and its three metabolites, oxazepam, nordazepam and temazepam, in human urine after oral administration of diazepam, are also presented.     

Improved high-performance liquid chromatographic determination of ciprofloxacin and its metabolites in human specimens.

A simple approach to the quantitation of ciprofloxacin and its three metabolites, M1 (desethylene-ciprofloxacin), M2 (sulfo-ciprofloxacin) and M3 (oxo-ciprofloxacin), in human serum, urine, saliva and sputum is described. This assay allows the parent drug and its metabolites to elute and be resolved in a single chromatogram at 280 nm using a linear gradient. The procedure involved liquid-liquid extraction. Separation was achieved on a C18 reversed-phase column. The limit of detection of ciprofloxacin is 0.05 microgram/ml and that of its three metabolites is 0.25 microgram/ml. This method is sufficiently sensitive for pharmacokinetic studies.     

Determination of ondansetron and its hydroxy metabolites in human serum using solid-phase extraction and liquid chromatography/positive ion electrospray tandem mass spectrometry

Ondansetron and its hydroxylated metabolites were determined in human serum using solid-phase extraction (SPE) and liquid chromatography/positive ion electrospray tandem mass spectrometry. Pyrimethamine was used as the internal standard. The analytes were eluted from the SPE cartridge using 2 x 1 ml of methanol containing 0.5% triethylamine, evaporated under vacuum and the residue was reconstituted in the mobile phase. The liquid chromatographic separation was achieved on a silica column using a mobile phase of aqueous 20 mM ammonium acetate (pH 4.7)-acetonitrile (85 : 15, v/v) at a flow-rate of 0.4 ml min(-1). The method was linear over the range 1-500 ng ml(-1) for ondansetron and each of the metabolites in human serum. The intra-day accuracy was better than 9.1% and the precision was <10.3%; the inter-day accuracy was better than 9.5% and the precision was <12.6%. The limit of detection was 250 pg ml(-1) based on a signal-to-noise ratio of 3. The absolute recovery from serum for all analytes was >90%.     

Simultaneous Gas Chromatographic Determination of Diazapam and its Major Metabolites in Human Plasma,Urine, and Saliva

Abstract

A glc analysis method was developed for the simultaneous determination of diazepam (I), and its major metabolites N-desmethyldiazepam (II), oxazepam (III), and hydroxydiazepam (IV) in human plasma, urine, and saliva. Medazepam (V) was used as the internal standard to control extraction efficiency and permit precise and accurate determination of I-IV. Extraction and glc analysis of physiological fluid samples in triplicate required only 40 minutes using the developed method. Three human subjects were given either 20 or 5 mg of I via oral administration and serial specimens of blood, urine, and saliva collected. All samples were analyzed using the developed assay method. Results indicate that the method could be applied to pharmacokinetic studies of I where plasma, urine, and/or saliva is to be monitored.     

Digoxin and metabolites in urine and feces: a fluorescence derivatization--high-performance liquid chromatographic technique

A high-performance liquid chromatography method is described for the determination of digoxin and its metabolites digoxigenin, digoxigenin monodigitoxoside, digoxigenin bis-digitoxoside and dihydrodigoxin (20S and 20R) excreted in urine and feces. The urine sample or fecal supernatant is extracted with methylene chloride in the presence of digitoxigenin or digitoxin as internal standard. Pre-column derivatization is achieved using 1-naphthoyl chloride with subsequent separation of the derivatized compounds on either a normal- or reversed-phase system with fluorescence detection. Recoveries for digoxin and all metabolites from fecal samples were in the range 60-74%, which is comparable to that previously determined for urine samples. Standard curve data revealed linearity over a wide range of concentrations. Coefficients of variation for the analysis were less than 10% for all compounds over a range of 5-125 ng per ml urine and 10-250 ng per 200 mg feces. Peaks for digoxin and metabolites in urine and feces were obtained when human excreta were analyzed.     

Automated high-performance liquid chromatographic determination of antipyrine and its main metabolites in plasma, saliva and urine, including 4,4'-dihydroxyantipyrine

A rapid, selective and sensitive method was developed for the determination of antipyrine and its main metabolites in plasma, saliva and urine by an automated high-performance liquid chromatographic system. Using a MOS-Hypersil reversed-phase column with a phosphate buffer--acetonitrile mobile phase, baseline separation of antipyrine, its metabolites 3-hydroxymethylantipyrine, norantipyrine and 4-hydroxyantipyrine, and the internal standard, phenacetin, was achieved within 6 min. Factors regarding the accuracy and precision of the method and the stability of phase I metabolites during sample preparation are discussed, taking into account certain drawbacks of previously published methods. Based on the same chromatographic system a method was developed for the assay of 4,4'-dihydroxyantipyrine in urine. This compound is an important metabolite of antipyrine in the rat, representing 12.6 +/- 1.8% of the administered dose (n = 18).     

Achiral and chiral determination of tramadol and its metabolites in urine by capillary electrophoresis

An achiral and chiral separation for the determination of tramadol and its main metabolite O-demethyltramadol in urine samples by CE with UV detection was developed. It was possible to separate tramadol and its phase I and phase II metabolites in one single run using a borate buffer. Furthermore, the simultaneous chiral separation of tramadol and the phase I metabolites was achieved using carboxymethyl-beta-cyclodextrin as chiral selector. To reach the required limits of quantification for the analytes, a preconcentration by solid-phase extraction for the achiral assay and by liquid-liquid extraction for the chiral assay was used. The methods were validated and their applicability was shown by the determination of tramadol and O-demethyltramadol in urine samples.     

Versatile isocratic high-performance liquid chromatographic assay for propranolol and its basic, neutral and acidic metabolites in biological fluids

A comprehensive high-performance liquid chromatographic method was developed for quantitating propranolol and its known metabolites in serum, bile and urine. Analysis was performed before and after incubation of the samples with beta-glucuronidase-arylsulfatase to quantitate both free and conjugate forms of the oxidative metabolites. Fractionation of the basic, neutral and acidic metabolites was achieved by differential pH solvent extraction. The basic and neutral metabolites were extracted from the biological samples at pH 10.5 with 2% n-butanol in dichloromethane. Additional clean-up of the basic fraction by back-extraction into dilute acid was needed for those samples that were subjected to enzymatic hydrolysis. The original aqueous sample was titrated with acid to pH 1, followed by extraction of the remaining acidic metabolites into either n-butanol-dichloromethane (with unhydrolyzed serum) or carbon tetrachloride (with all other samples). Chromatographic separation of the metabolites in the different extracts was achieved on a reversed-phase C18 column, using a single isocratic mobile phase consisting of 0.044 M pH 2.7 phosphate buffer, tetrahydrofuran, methanol and acetonitrile, with the addition of n-butylamine as a competing base to control retention volume and peak shape. Detection and quantitation of propranolol and its metabolites in the low nanogram to sub-nanogram range was afforded by fluorescence at a low UV excitation wavelength. The coefficients of variation for replicate assay of spiked samples were uniformly less than 6% for all the analytes.     

Determination of thiocyanate in human saliva and urine by ion chromatography.

A simple ion-chromatographic method has been developed for the determination of trace amounts of thiocyanate in human saliva and urine. Thiocyanate separation and detection were carried out on an ODS column coated with cetyldimethylamine and by an ultraviolet detector, respectively. Citrate solution (1 mmol l-1) was used as the mobile phase. Thiocyanate was clearly separated from many organic and inorganic anions found in saliva and urine samples. The analytical results obtained by the proposed method agreed with those of the Fe(3+)-thiocyanate spectrophotometric method. Thiocyanate concentrations in the saliva and urine of smokers were found to be significantly higher than those of non-smokers.     

Analysis of thiocyanate in biological fluids by capillary zone electrophoresis

A new sensitive and simple method has been developed for the determination of thiocyanate in human serum, urine and saliva. The determinations were performed in a fused-silica capillary [64.5 cm (56 cm effective length) x 75 microm] using 0.1 M beta-alanine-HCl (pH 3.50) as a background electrolyte, separation voltage 18 kV (negative polarity), temperature of capillary 25 degrees C and direct detection at 200 nm. Serum samples were 10-times diluted with deionised water and deproteinised with acetonitrile in the ratio 1:2. Urine and saliva samples need only 20-fold dilution with deionised water. The proposed method was successfully applied to the determination of thiocyanate in various human serum, saliva and urine samples.     

Determination of 1,4-benzodiazepines and their metabolites by capillary electrophoresis and high-performance liquid chromatography using ultraviolet and electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry.

A study is presented for the separation and determination of fifteen 1,4-benzodiazepine drugs and metabolites by capillary electrophoresis (CE) compared with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). A comparison is made between the CE determination of the compounds by conventional UV detection and LC determination with electrospray ionisation (ESI) ion-trap mass spectrometry. CE is shown to provide superior separation to HPLC but the MS-MS capability of the ion-trap allows for the specific detection and determination of four of the compounds, diazepam, N'-desmethyldiazepam, oxazepam and temazepam in the hair of a patient under clinical treatment with diazepam and temazepam. Selected mixtures of drugs and metabolites are determined by CE and LC and the determination of diazepam and its metabolites by CE-UV-ESI-MS-MS is also presented.     

Capillary electrochromatography of caffeine and its metabolites in rat brain microdialysate

A capillary electrochromatography (CEC) method has been developed for the separation of caffeine and its two metabolites 1-methylxanthine (1-MX) and 1,7-dimethylxanthine (1,7-DX). The stationary phase was 3-(1,8-naphthalimido) propyl-modified silyl silica gel (NAIP) and the best separations were achieved with 4.0 mM citrate buffer (pH 5.0) containing 80% methanol at an applied voltage of 25 kV. The compounds were completely separated in less than 3.5 min with good repeatability, which was approximately 3-times less than that in high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with NAIP. The proposed method coupled with microdialysis was successfully applied to the monitoring of caffeine concentration in rat brain with detection limits of 1.11 microg/mL.     

Evaluation of diazepam-molecularly imprinted microspheres for the separation of diazepam and its main metabolite from body fluid samples

Molecularly imprinted microspheres (MIMs) for the drug diazepam and its main metabolite (nordiazepam) were prepared and used to separate the two species from urine and serum samples via molecularly imprinted solid-phase extraction. The specific binding capacity for diazepam was determined to be 1.97 mg/g, resulting in an imprinting factor of 5.8. The MIMs exhibit highly selective binding affinity for tricyclic benzodiazepines. Water-acetonitrile-acetone mixtures were used as the washing solvent and resulted in complete baseline separation, with a recovery of >87% for diazepam and of 88% for nordiazepam. The limits of detection are 21.5 and 24.5 ng/mL, respectively.     

Stereoselective determination of hydroxychloro-quine and its major metabolites in human urine by solid-phase microextraction and HPLC

The enantioselective analysis of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) and its major metabolites was achieved by HPLC and solid-phase microextraction. The chromatographic separation was performed on a Chiralcel OD-H column using hexane/methanol/ethanol (96:2:2, v/v/v) plus 0.2% diethylamine as the mobile phase, at the flow rate of 1.3 mL/min. The main extraction parameters were optimized. The best condition was achieved by the addition of 10% NaCl and 1 mL phosphate buffer 1 mol/L pH 11 to 3 mL human urine. The extraction was conducted for 40 min at 25 degrees C and the desorption time was 3 min using methanol (100%). PDMS-DVB 60 microm fiber was used in this study. The mean recoveries were 9.3, 9.2, and 14.4% for HCQ, desethylhydroxychloroquine (DHCQ), and desethylchloroquine (DCQ), respectively. The method was linear over the range of 50-1000 ng/mL for HCQ enantiomers and over the range of 42-416 ng/mL for DCQ and DHCQ enantiomers. Within-day and between-day precision and accuracy assays for HCQ and its metabolites were lower than 15%. The preliminary 48 h urinary excretion study performed in human urine showed to be stereoselective. The amount of (+)-(S)-enantiomer excreted was higher than its antipode.     

Liquid Chromatographic Analysis of Ciprofloxacin and Ciprofloxacin Metabolites in Body Fluids

Abstract

An isocratic HPLC assay procedure for analysis of ciprofloxacin and three metabolites was developed. The procedure requires only dilution of bile, saliva, and urine samples prior to reverse-phase chromatography on a polystyrene-divinylbenzene (PSDVB) column; analysis of serum samples requires a cleanup step on a PSDVB cartridge prior to chromatography. The dependence of chromatographic efficiency on flow rate and temperature was investigated and the accuracy, precision, selectivity, and sensitivity of the procedure were evaluated. The developed procedure was also compared to a modified version of a published ciprofloxacin procedure that requires an octadecyl-silane (ODS) column for chromatographic separation. Similar efficiency, precision, and accuracy were observed with both procedures and both were used for analysis of clinical samples. However, the procedures were used for different purposes. The PSDVB procedure, because of more favorable column selectivity, was used to assay ciprofloxacin and its metabolites in bile, urine and saliva samples. The ODS procedure, because of a simpler serum preparation step, was used t o assay ciprofloxacin in serum samples.     

High-performance liquid chromatographic determination of spironolactone and its metabolites in human biological fluids after solid-phase extraction.

A simple and sensitive high-performance liquid chromatographic procedure to determine spironolactone and its three major metabolites in biological specimens is described. The assay involves sequential extraction on C18 and CN solid phases, and subsequent separation on a reversed-phase column. In plasma samples, spironolactone and its metabolites were completely separated within 8 min using an isocratic mobile phase, while in urine samples a methanol gradient was necessary to achieve a good separation within 14 min. Recoveries for all analytes were greater than 80% in plasma and 72% in urine. Linear responses were observed for all compounds in the range 6.25-400 ng/ml for plasma and 31.25-2000 ng/ml for urine. The plasma and urine methods were precise (coefficient of variation from 0.8 to 12.5%) and accurate (-12.1% to 7.4% of the nominal values) for all compounds. The assay proved to be suitable for the pharmacokinetic study of spironolactone in healthy human subjects.     

Validation of SPE‐HPLC determination of 1,4‐benzodiazepines and metabolites in blood plasma,urine, and saliva

A simple, sensitive, selective, and reproducible RP‐HPLC method with DAD detection at 240 nm was developed for the determination of six 1,4‐benzodiazepines: bromazepam (BRZ), clonazepam (CLZ), diazepam (DZP), flunitrazepam (FNZ), lorazepam (LRZ), alprazolam (APZ); and two metabolites: α‐hydroxyalprazolam (HALZ) and α‐hydroxytriazolam (HTZL) in human plasma, urine, and saliva, using colchicine as internal standard, after SPE using Nexus Varian cartridges. Separation was performed on a Kromasil C₈ (250 mm×5 mm, 5 μm) analytical column with a gradient mobile phase containing methanol, ACN and 0.05 M ammonium acetate. Linearity was held within the range 0.3–20.0 ng/μL, with coefficients of determination (r²) better than 0.997. The within‐ and between‐day assay RSD at 2, 4, 8 ng/μL ranged from 0.03 to 4.7% and 0.5 to 7.0%, respectively in standards, from 1.3 to 7.9% and 3.3 to 7.3%, respectively in plasma, from 2.1 to 6.0% and 2.1 to 7.8%, respectively in urine and at 0.5, 1.0, 2.0 ng/μL ranged from 2.22 to 5.8% and 2.2 to 8.1%, respectively, in saliva. The mean relative recoveries were 96.3–108.6, 96.0–108.2, 94.3–107.1, 97.0–107.0% in within‐day assay and 96.8–107.7, 94.6–107.6, 93.2–105.8, 96.0–108.6 in between‐day assay for standard, plasma, urine, and saliva, respectively. The LOD and LOQ were 0.02–0.47 and 0.07–1.57 ng/μL, respectively.     

Determination of new pyridoquinoline derivatives and their quantification in urine by capillary liquid chromatography

Capillary liquid chromatography (CLC) in reversed separation mode was applied to the quantification and impurity profile determination of eight newly synthesized pyridoquinolines. The CLC separation system consisted of Nucleosil C18 stationary phase and methanol containing 1% (v/v) of triethylamine (TEA) as the mobile phase. The optimized separation system enabled the separation of impurities from the main component and their quantification in a reasonable analysis time. The presence of TEA in the mobile phase greatly improved the peak shape and decreased the analysis time of the studied derivatives on the C18 stationary phase. Calibration curves of pyridoquinolines were plotted in a concentration range from 1.0×10^–6 to 1.0×10^–3 mol/L at two parallel detector wavelengths of 254 and 265 nm and subsequently used for quantification of pyridoquinoline derivatives in human urine. No pretreatment of the real biological sample was needed. Detection and quantification limits were calculated for all the derivatives and the detection limits of most of the pyridoquinolines were found to lie in the μmol/L concentration range. The proposed CLC separation system has proved to be a suitable method for quantification of test derivatives in samples containing human urine matrix.     

Phase I and II metabolites of speciogynine, a diastereomer of the main Kratom alkaloid mitragynine, identified in rat and human urine by liquid chromatography coupled to low- and high-resolution linear ion trap mass spectrometry

Mitragyna speciosa (Kratom in Thai), a Thai medical plant, is misused as herbal drug of abuse. Besides the most abundant alkaloids mitragynine (MG) and paynantheine (PAY), several other alkaloids were isolated from Kratom leaves, among them the third abundant alkaloid is speciogynine (SG), a diastereomer of MG. The aim of this present study was to identify the phase I and II metabolites of SG in rat urine after the administration of a rather high dose of the pure alkaloid and then to confirm these findings using human urine samples after Kratom use. The applied liquid chromatography coupled to low- and high-resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS-MS) provided detailed information on the structure in the MS(n) mode particularly with high resolution. For the analysis of the human samples, the LC separation had to be improved markedly allowing the separation of SG and its metabolites from its diastereomer MG and its metabolites. In analogy to MG, besides SG, nine phase I and eight phase II metabolites could be identified in rat urine, but only three phase I and five phase II metabolites in human urine. These differences may be caused by the lower SG dose applied by the user of Kratom preparations. SG and its metabolites could be differentiated in the human samples from the diastereomeric MG and its metabolites comparing the different retention times determined after application of the single alkaloids to rats. In addition, some differences in MS(2) and/or MS(3) spectra of the corresponding diastereomers were observed.