Improved determination of the bisphosphonate alendronate in human plasma and urine by automated precolumn derivatization and high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence and electrochemical detection.

An improved method for the determination of 4-amino-1-hydroxybutane-1,1-bisphosphonic acid (alendronate) in human urine and an assay in human plasma are described. The methods are based on co-precipitation of the bisphosphonate with calcium phosphates, automated pre-column derivatization of the primary amino group of the bisphosphonic acid with 2,3-naphthalene dicarboxyaldehyde (NDA)-N-acetyl-D-penicillamine (NAP) or cyanide (CN-) reagents, and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with electrochemical (ED) or fluorescence detection (FD). The feasibility of ED of the NDA-CN- derivative of aldendronate has been demonstrated, and a HPLC-ED assay in human urine has been validated in the concentration range 2.5-50.0 ng/ml. In order to eliminate the cyanide ion from the assay procedure, several other nucleophiles in the NDA derivatization reaction were evaluated. An NDA-NAP reagent was found to produce highly fluorescent derivatives of alendronate. The assay in urine based on NDA-NAP derivatization and HPLC-FD has been developed and fully validated in the concentration range 1-25 ng/ml. Based on the same NDA-NAP derivatization, an assay in human plasma with a limit of quantification of 5 ng/ml has also been developed. Both HPLC-FD assays were utilized to support various human pharmacokinetic studies with alendronate.     

Simultaneous amperometric determination of lignin peroxidase and manganese peroxidase activities in compost bioremediation using artificial neural networks

High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and fluorescence derivatization were applied for a nanogram-level N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) analysis of water samples. For the analysis of N-nitrosodimethylamine, samples were first denitrosated by a mixed solution of hydrobromic acid and acetic acid to produce dimethylamine, which was derivatized with dansyl chloride for HPLC fluorescence detection. Fluorescence detection was optimized with excitation and emission wavelengths of 340 and 530 nm, respectively. pH adjustment after denitrosation was necessary to maximize fluorescence intensity with pHs in the range of 9-12. A dansyl chloride concentration of 500 mg l⁻¹ was found to be optimal for measuring a fluorescence signal. An instrumental detection limit of 0.1 ng of NDMA was possible with fluorescence derivatization. The NDMA in water samples was extracted by continuous solid-phase extraction using Ambersorb 572. Although the determination of NDMA was variable at lower concentrations (less than 200 ng l⁻¹), it was observed that the NDMA detection limit with this method could be lowered to a concentration of 10 ng l⁻¹. Another benefit of this method can be found in its selectivity for NDMA. Unlike gas chromatographic (GC) methods, this method generates a distinct peak for NDMA without interference even in the complex matrix of wastewater effluents. The HPLC with fluorescence derivatization method may be applicable for determining NDMA in water and wastewater samples for various research purposes and for screening environmental samples.     

Simple and sensitive liquid chromatographic method with fluorimetric detection for the analysis of gamma-amino-n-butyric acid in human urine

A simple and sensitive liquid chromatographic method is described for the analysis of γ-amino-n-butyric acid (GABA) in human urine. GABA is increased in the urine of cancer patients and could be used as a biomarker in the diagnosis and treatment of related patients. The method is based on derivatizing GABA with a fluorescent reagent (naproxen acyl chloride) for transforming the non-chromophoric GABA to a derivative with chromophoric and fluorophoric properties. The resulting derivative is highly responsive to a fluorimetric detector (λ_ex = 230 nm, λ_em = 350 nm). The lower quantitation of the method is attainable at 100 nM GABA with a detection limit about 10 nM (S/N = 3 with 20 μL injected). Application of the method to the analysis of GABA in the urine of patients with ovarian and uterine cancer was demonstrated.     

Determination of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, ethylenediaminedisuccinic acid and iminodisuccinic acid in cosmetic products by capillary electrophoresis and high performance liquid chromatography

A capillary electrophoresis (CE) and a high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method are described for the simultaneous determination of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), S,S′-ethylenediaminedisuccinic acid (EDDS) and R,S-iminodisuccinic acid (IDS) complexing agents as their Fe(III) complexes in cosmetics like shower cream and foam bath. The non-biodegradable EDTA is used in combination with biodegradable analogues like EDDS and IDS in many commercial products. The HPLC method involves separation by reversed-phase ion pair chromatography on a C₁₈ column using methanol-formate buffer (20 mM tetrabutylammonium hydrogen sulfate, 15 mM sodium formate adjusted to pH 4.0 with formic acid) (10:90, v/v) as mobile solvent at a flow rate of 0.8 mL min⁻¹ at 24 °C using UV detection at 240 nm. The CE separation was performed in a fused silica capillary of 50 μm i.d. with the total length of 50 cm with a 10 mM MES and MOPSO (pH 5.5) at an applied voltage of −25 kV. The samples were introduced by applying a 50 mbar pressure for 2 s. Absorbances at 215 and 225 nm were monitored for the detection of the complexes. The methodology performance of the two methods was evaluated in terms of linearity, limit of detection (LOD), limit of quantitation (LOQ) and reproducibility. The LOD values obtained from HPLC are low when compared with CE. The applicability of both the methods was demonstrated for the analysis of cosmetic products such as shower cream and foam bath. The results obtained by both CE and HPLC were found to be comparable and in good agreement.     

Determination of kynurenine levels in rat plasma by high-performance liquid chromatography with pre-column fluorescence derivatization

Kynurenine (KYN), a tryptophan metabolite, is a crucial compound for modulating neurotransmission because it can be metabolized in vivo into both quinolinic acid and kynurenic acid, which are the agonist and antagonist, respectively, of N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor. For the highly sensitive detection of KYN by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), a fluorescence derivatization of KYN with a benzofurazan-type fluorogenic reagent, 4-N,N-dimethylaminosulfonyl-7-fluoro-2,1,3-benzoxadiazole (DBD-F) was investigated in the present study. KYN was derivatized with DBD-F (DBD-KYN) at 60 °C for 30 min, and separated on an octadecylsilica column with a gradient elution of the mobile phase, which consists of 0.1% formic acid in acetonitrile/methanol/water. DBD-KYN was detected fluorimetrically at 553 nm with an excitation wavelength of 431 nm. The limits of detection and quantification were approximately 0.30 pmol [signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) 3] and 1.0 pmol (S/N, 10) on column, respectively. Plasma KYN levels were successfully determined using 10 μL of rat plasma with satisfactory precision and accuracy. Intra- and inter-day precisions and accuracies were 1.7-6.8%, and −10 to 9.6%, respectively. KYN levels in plasma of male Sprague-Dawley rats (7 weeks old) were approximately 2.4 ± 0.32 μmol L⁻¹ (n = 4). The proposed HPLC method was applied to determine KYN levels in the plasma of ketamine-treated rats—the animal model of schizophrenia.     

Determination of lamivudine and zidovudine in binary mixtures using first derivative spectrophotometric, first derivative of the ratio-spectra and high-performance liquid chromatography-UV methods

Three methods are presented for the simultaneous determination of lamivudine and zidovudine. The first method depends on first derivative UV spectrophotometry, with zero-crossing and peak-to-base measurement. The first derivative amplitudes at 265.6 and 271.6 nm were selected for the assay of lamivudine and zidovudine, respectively. The second method depends on first derivative of the ratio-spectra by measurements of the amplitudes at 239.5 and 245.3 nm for lamivudine and 225.1 and 251.5 nm for zidovudine. Calibration graphs were established for 1-50 μg/ml for lamivudine and 2-100 μg/ml for zidovudine. In the third method (HPLC), a reversed-phase column with a mobile phase of methanol:water:acetonitrile (70:20:10 (v/v/v)) at 0.9 ml/min flow rate was used to separate both compounds with a detection of 265.0 nm. Linearity was obtained in the concentration range of 0.025-50 μg/ml for lamivudine and 0.15-50 μg/ml for zidovudine. All of the proposed methods have been extensively validated. These methods allow a number of cost and time saving benefits. The described methods can be readily utilized for analysis of pharmaceutical formulations. There was no significant difference between the performance of all of the proposed methods regarding the mean values and standard deviations. The described HPLC method showed to be appropriate for simultaneous determination of lamivudine and zidovudine in human serum samples.     

Determination of nucleic acids based on the fluorescence quenching of Hoechst 33258 at pH 4.5

It was found the strong fluorescence emitted by the bis-benzimidazole derivative Hoechst 33258 at 490 nm could be efficiently quenched in pH 4.5 buffer when nucleic acids were added. Analysis of fluorescence intensity showed that the procedure was a static quenching dominated one, which was also demonstrated by the electron absorption spectra and lifetime of the excited state. The binding constant and numbers of binding sites were obtained from the Scatchard plot. The decreased fluorescence intensity was in proportion to the concentration of nucleic acids in the range 40-1800 ng ml⁻¹ for dsDNA and 26-1700 ng ml⁻¹ for ssDNA. The limits of detection were 12 and 8 ng ml⁻¹, respectively. The sensitivity of the method was about 3.4 times higher for dsDNA detection and 5.4 times higher for ssDNA detection compared with the widely used fluorescence enhancement method using the same dye. Application results to synthetic samples showed simplicity, rapidity and satisfactory reproducibility of the presented method. Measurement of real samples extracted from leaves of Crassula argentea and E. coli genome also gave satisfactory results, which were in good agreement with those obtained using spectrophotometric method.     

Determination of psilocybin in hallucinogenic mushrooms by reversed-phase liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection

The determination of psilocybin was carried out by reversed-phase liquid chromatography (HPLC) with fluorescence (FL) detection. Psilocybin was labeled with 5-dimethylaminonaphthalene-1-[N-(2-aminoethyl)]sulfonamide (DNS-ED) at 60 °C for 4 h in the presence of 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)-carbodiimide (EDC) as the activation reagent. The resulting derivative was separated on a Mightysil RP-18 GP column (150 mm × 4.6 mm, i.d. 3 μm) with the mixture of 50 mM ammonium acetate (AcONH₄) and CH₃CN, and detected at 539 nm (excitation at 321 nm). The structure of the derivative was identified by HPLC-ESI-MS. A good linear relation of the calibration curve of psilocybin was observed under the proposed conditions for labeling, separation and detection. The quantification limit was 4.4 ng in 1 mg dried mushroom. The proposed procedure was successfully used for the determination of psilocybin in real samples. The contents of psilocybin in six magic mushrooms by the proposed HPLC-FL method were less than 20.0 ng in 1 mg dried samples.     

Fluorescence for the ultrasensitive detection of peptides with functionalized nano-ZnS

The fluorescence emitted by the functionalized ZnS nanocrystal at 440 nm could be efficiently enhanced or quenched when various peptides were added. The mechanism of the fluorescence enchancement and quenching of ZnS nanocrystals was discussed. The binding constant and numbers of binding sites was obtained from the Scatchard plot. The change of fluorescence intensity was in proportion to the concentration of peptides. The limits of detection were in range of 0.011-0.028 μg mL⁻¹. Application results to synthetic samples showed simplicity, rapidity, high sensitivity and satisfactory reproducibility of the presented method. Measurements of real samples also give satisfactory results which were in good agreement with those obtained using high performance liquid chromatograph (HPLC) and liquid chromatograph-mass spectrograph (LC-MS) methods.     

Liquid chromatographic determination of cis-platin as platinum(II) in pharmaceutical preparation, serum and urine samples of cancer patients

Spectrophotometric and high performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) methods have been developed for the determination of cis-platin and carboplatin based on the pre-column derivatization of platinum(II) with 2-acetylpyridine-4-phenyl-3-thiosemicarbazone. The complex was extracted in chloroform with molar absorptivity of 2.2 × 10⁴ L mol⁻¹ cm⁻¹ at 380 nm. The complex eluted from a Phenomenex C-18 (150 mm × 4.6 mm i.d.) column with methanol:water:acetonitrile:tetrabutyl ammonium bromide (1 mM) (44:30:25:1, v/v/v/v) with a flow rate of 1 ml/min and UV detection at 260 nm. Ruthenium(IV) and selenium(IV) also separated completely. The linear calibration curve was with 0.5-12.5 μg/ml and detection limit of 10 ng/ml platinum(II).The analysis of cis-platin and carboplatin injections by spectrophotometric and HPLC methods indicated relative standard deviation (R.S.D.) of 0.66-2.1%. The method was used for the determinations of cis-platin in serum and urine of cancer patients after chemotherapy and platinum contents were found 148-444 and 50-90 ng/ml with R.S.D. of 0.3-3.0 and 0.6-2.4% for the serum and urine, respectively. The recovery of platinum(II) from serum was 97% with R.S.D. 2.2%.     

Fast gradient high performance liquid chromatography method with UV detection for simultaneous determination of seven angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors together with hydrochlorothiazide in pharmaceutical dosage forms and spiked human plasma and urine

The development of a reversed phase liquid chromatographic method for the simultaneous determination of seven angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors; five drugs namely benazepril HCl (BZL), enalapril maleate (ENL), fosinopril sodium (FSP), lisinopril (LSP) and ramipril (RMP) and two metabolites captopril disulfide (CPD) and enalaprilat (ENT) together with hydrochlorothiazide (HCT) is described. The method can serve as a substitute for many published papers for the analysis of the targeted compounds with or without hydrochloothiazide in pharmaceutical formulations as well as in spiked human plasma and urine samples. The method utilizes a simple gradient procedure for the separation in a 11 min run time using acetonitrile aqueous ammonia buffer (pH 9) solution and an Extend RP-C18 (25 μm particle size, 4.6 mm × 250 mm, Agilent) HPLC column. The effluent was monitored on a UV detector at 215 nm. The effect of pH, solvent strength and analysis time on the peak shape and quantification were carefully studied in order to optimize the method. Adopting the proposed procedure, the analytes produce well-shaped peaks with good linear relationship over the investigated concentration ranges. The limits of detection (LOD) and limits of quantification (LOQ) from standard drug solutions lie in the range of 17-64 and 56-212 ng mL⁻¹, respectively. Correlation coefficient values (r) higher than 0.997 were obtained for all the studied drugs in spiked human plasma and urine samples. The intra-day and inter-day precision of the method was evaluated with relative standard deviation values being satisfactory for their purposed analysis. The method was validated with respect to specificity, recovery, accuracy, precision and linearity.     

New method for the quantification of dequalinium cations in pharmaceutical samples by absorption and fluorescence diode array thin-layer chromatography

A diode array HPTLC method for dequalinium chloride in pharmaceutical preparations is presented. For separation a Nano TLC silica gel plate (Merck) is used with the mobile phase methanol—7.8% aqueous NH₄⁺CH₃COO⁻ (17:3, v/v) over a distance of 6 cm. Dequalinium chloride shows an R_F value of 0.58. Pure dequalinium chloride is measured in the wavelength range from 200 to 500 nm and shows several by-products, contour plot visualized in absorption, fluorescence and using the Kubelka–Munk transformation. Scanning of a single track in absorption and fluorescence measuring 600 spectra in the range from 200 to 1100 nm takes 30 s. As a sample pre-treatment of an ointment it is simply dissolved in methanol and can be quantified in absorption from 315 to 340 nm. The same separation can also be quantified using fluorescence spectrometry in the range from 355 to 370 nm. A new staining method for dequalinium chloride, using sodium tetraphenyl borate/HCl in water allows a fluorescence quantification in the range from 445 to 485 nm. The linearity range of absorption and fluorescence measurements is from 10 to 2000 ng. Sugar-containing preparations like liquids or lozenges with a reduced sample pre-treatment can be reliably quantified only in fluorescence. The total for the quantification of an ointment sample (measuring four standards and five samples), including all sample pre-treatment steps takes less than 45 min!     

Simultaneous determination of cefotaxime and desacetylcefotaxime in real urine sample using voltammetric and high-performance liquid chromatographic methods

Two rapid, accurate and sensitive methods are developed and validated for the quantitative simultaneous determination of cefotaxime (CFX) and its active metabolite desacetylcefotaxime (DCFX) in urine.Based on the previous results which showed the four electron reduction of CFX at ≈ −0.5 V, and the new findings that DCFX reduction occurred at more positive potential (−0.23 V), the new adsorptive stripping differential pulse voltammetric (AdSDPV) method was developed for determination of CFX in the presence of DCFX. Linear responses were observed over a wide concentration range (0.07-0.52 μg/ml for CFX and 0.22-1.3 μg/ml for DCFX) in urine.The second assay involves subsequent separation on a reversed-phase HPLC column, with ultraviolet detection at 262 nm. Retention times were 4.057 and 1.960 min for CFX and DCFX, respectively. Linear responses were observed over a wide range, 0.55-6.60 μg/ml for CFX and 1.10-11.00 μg/ml for DCFX, in urine.The statistical evaluation for both methods was examined by means of within-day repeatability (n = 5) and day-to-day precision (n = 3) and was found to be satisfactory with high accuracy and precision.     

Voltammetric determination of boron by using Alizarin Red S

Cordycepin is the main active metabolite of Cordyceps militaris extracts; according to recent studies it has interesting therapeutic activities. A new capillary electrophoresis (CE) procedure with UV detection at 254 nm for determination of cordycepin was developed and optimized. Optimal conditions found were 20 mM sodium borate buffer with 28.6% methanol, pH 9.5, separation voltage 20 kV, hydrodynamic injection time 10 s and temperature 25 °C. Linearity was found over the 20-100 μg/mL concentration ranges of cordycepin. The developed method has been applied for determination of cordycepin in various pharmaceutical products. A comparison was made between CE and a high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method. Both of these methods gave comparable results. The shorter analysis time and low running cost are the main advantages of CE method.     

Reusable sensor based on functionalized carbon dots for the detection of silver nanoparticles in cosmetics via inner filter effect

We report a low cost selective analytical method based on inner filter effect (IFE) for citrate-silver nanoparticle (cit-AgNP) detection, in which fluorescent amine-derivatized carbon dots (a-CDs) act as the donor and aggregated cit-AgNPs as the energy receptor. Carbon dots (CDs) were chemically modified with ethylenediamine (EDA) moieties via amidic linkage displaying an emission band at 440 nm. The presence of cit-AgNPs produces a remarkably quenching of a-CD fluorescence via IFE, since the free amine groups at CD surface induce the aggregation of cit-AgNPs accompany by a red-shifting of their characteristic plasmon absorption wavelength, which resulted in “turn-on” of the IFE-decreased in CD fluorescence. The proposed method, which involves the use of chelating agents for removal of metal ions interferences, exhibits a good linear correlation for detection of cit-AgNPs from 1.23 × 10⁻⁵ to 6.19 × 10⁻⁵ mol L⁻¹, with limits of detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ) of 5.17 × 10⁻⁶ and 1.72 × 10⁻⁵ mol L^−1, respectively. This method demonstrates to be efficient and selective for the determination of cit-AgNPs in complex matrices such as cosmetic creams and reveals many advantages such as low cost, reusability, high sensitivity and non time-consuming compared with other traditional methods.     

1,3,5,7-Tetramethyl-8-aminozide-difluoroboradiaza-s-indacene as a new fluorescent labeling reagent for the determination of aliphatic aldehydes in serum with high performance liquid chromatography

A BODIPY-based fluorescent derivatization reagent with a hydrazine moiety, 1,3,5,7-tetramethyl-8-aminozide-difluoroboradiaza-s-indacene (BODIPY-aminozide), has been designed for aldehyde labeling. An increased fluorescence quantum yield was observed from 0.38 to 0.94 in acetonitrile when it reacted with aldehydes. Twelve aliphatic aldehydes from formaldehyde to lauraldehyde were used to evaluate the analytical potential of this reagent by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) on C₁₈ column with fluorescence detection. The derivatization reaction of BODIPY-aminozide with aldehydes proceeded at 60 °C for 30 min to form stable corresponding BODIPY hydrazone derivatives in the presence of phosphoric acid as a catalyst. The maximum excitation (495 nm) and emission (505 nm) wavelengths were almost the same for all the aldehyde derivatives. A baseline separation of all the 12 aliphatic aldehydes (except formaldehyde and acetaldehyde) is achieved in 20 min with acetonitrile–tetrahydrofuran (THF)–water as mobile phase. The detection limits were obtained in the range from 0.43 to 0.69 nM (signal-to-noise = 3), which are better than or comparable with those obtained by the existing methods based on aldehyde labeling. This reagent has been applied to the precolumn derivatization followed with HPLC determination of trace aliphatic aldehydes in human serum samples without complex pretreatment or enrichment method.     

Development of an HPLC method for the determination of mexiletine in human plasma and urine by solid-phase extraction

A sensitive and specific high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method has been developed and validated for the quantification of mexiletine (MEX) in human plasma and urine. It uses solid-phase extraction (SPE) followed by an automated reversed-phase HPLC with a pre-column derivatization with 4-chloro-7-nitrobenzofurazan (NBD-CI) and UV-vis Absorbance detection. The process was set as: the UV-vis Absorbance wavelength was set at 458 nm. Chromatographic separation was performed on a Phenomenex-C₁₈ Column (Aqua, 150 mm × 4.6 mm i.d. with 5 μm particle size) with the mobile phase consisting of acetonitrile and water (80:20, v/v), and the flow rate was set at 1.0 mL min⁻¹. Calibration of the overall analytical procedure gave a linear signal (r > 0.9998) over a MEX concentration range of 0.2-2.0 μg mL⁻¹ in human plasma and urine. The detection limit in plasma and urine was 0.1 μg mL⁻¹. Intra- and inter-day precision of the assay at three concentrations within this range were 0.31-2.50%. The high specificity and sensitivity have been achieved by this fast method (total run-time <6 min). The method has been successfully validated in human plasma and urine and it has been shown to be precise, accurate and reliable.     

Sensitive determination of hydrazine in water by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry after derivatization with ortho-phthalaldehyde

A gas chromatography–mass spectrometric (GC–MS) method has been established for the determination of hydrazine in drinking water and surface water. This method is based on the derivatization of hydrazine with ortho-phthalaldehyde (OPA) in water. The following optimum reaction conditions were established: reagent dosage, 40 mg mL⁻¹ of OPA; pH 2; reaction for 20 min at 70 °C. The organic derivative was extracted with methylene chloride and then measured by GC–MS. Under the established condition, the detection and the quantification limits were 0.002 μg L⁻¹ and 0.007 μg L⁻¹ by using 5.0-mL of surface water or drinking water, respectively. The calibration curve showed good linearity with r² = 0.9991 (for working range of 0.05–100 μg L⁻¹) and the accuracy was in a range of 95–106%, and the precision of the assay was less than 13% in water. Hydrazine was detected in a concentration range of 0.05–0.14 μg L⁻¹ in 2 samples of 10 raw drinking water samples and in a concentration range of 0.09–0.55 μg L⁻¹ in 4 samples of 10 treated drinking water samples.     

Catalytic adsorptive stripping voltammetry versus electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry in the determination of trace cobalt and chromium in human urine

Two methods of the determination of cobalt and chromium in human urine of non-occupationally exposed populations—highly sensitive catalytic adsorptive stripping voltammetry (CAdSV) and electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (ET-AAS)—are evaluated and compared. The CAdSV methods are based on adsorptive accumulation of a cobalt-nioxime (1,2-cyclohexanedione dioxime) or a chromium-DTPA (diethylenetriammine-N,N,N′,N″,N″-pentaacetic acid) complexes on a hanging mercury drop electrode, followed by a stripping voltammetric measurement of the catalytic reduction current of the adsorbed complex in the presence of sodium nitrite in case of cobalt or in the presence of sodium nitrate in case of chromium determination. In the CAdSV procedure UV-photolysis was used for the sample pre-treatment; the ET-AAS determination did not require any separate preliminary decomposition of the analyte urine samples. The accuracy of the procedures was checked by the analysis of commercially available quality control urine samples. The detection limits (3σ) were 0.13 μg l⁻¹ for Co and 0.18 μg l⁻¹ for Cr in ET-AAS determination and 0.007 μg l⁻¹ for Co and 0.002 μg l⁻¹ for Cr in CAdSV measurements. Precision (R.S.D.) was less than 5% for both methods. The study has shown that the CAdSV is a more reliable and sensitive technique for the determination of very low cobalt and chromium contents in urine, the detection of which is not possible when using the AAS technique.     

A highly sensitive HPLC method with automated on-line sample pre-treatment and fluorescence detection for determination of reboxetine in human plasma

A fully automated, rapid and highly sensitive HPLC method with automated sample pre-treatment by column-switching system and fluorescence detection has been developed for the trace quantitative determination of the new antidepressant reboxetine (RBX) in human plasma. A simple pre-column derivatization procedure with 7-flouro-4-nitrobenzo-2-oxa-1,3-diazole (NBD-F) reagent was employed. Paroxetine (PXT) was used as an internal standard. Plasma samples containing both RBX and PXT, after filtration, were derivatized by heating with NBD-F in borate buffer of pH 8 at 70 °C for 30 min. The derivatized plasma samples were injected into the HPLC system where an on-line sample clean up was achieved on the pre-treatment column (Co-sense Shim-pack MAYI-ODS) with a washing mobile phase (acetonitrile:2% acetic acid; 40:60, v/v) at a flow rate of 5 mL min⁻¹ for 1 min. After an automated on-line column switching to the analytical Hypersil phenyl 120A column (250 mm × 4.6 mm, 5 μm), the separation of the derivatized RBX and PXT was performed using a mobile phase consisting of sodium acetate buffer (pH 3.5):tetrahydrofuran:acetonitrile (55:35:10, v/v/v) at a flow rate of 2.0 mL min⁻¹. The eluted derivatives were monitored by a fluorescence detector set at an excitation wavelength of 470 nm and an emission wavelength of 530 nm. Under the optimum chromatographic conditions, a linear relationship with good correlation coefficient (r = 0.9995, n = 5) was found between the peak area ratio of RBX to PXT and RBX concentration in the range of 2-500 ng mL⁻¹, with limits of detection and quantification of 0.5 and 1.7 ng mL⁻¹, respectively. The intra- and inter-day precisions were satisfactory; the relative standard deviations were 2.25 and 3.01% for the intra- and inter-day precisions, respectively. The accuracy of the method proved as the mean recovery values were 100.11 ± 2.24% and 100.99 ± 2.98% for the intra- and inter-day assay runs, respectively. The proposed method involved simple and minimum sample preparation procedure and short run-time (<12 min) and therefore it can be applied to the routine therapeutic monitoring and pharmacokinetic studies of RBX.