Enhancement of Fluorescence Intensity of Tramadol and Its Main Metabolites in LC Using Pre-Column Derivatization with 9-Fluorenylmethyl Chloroformate

Tramadol was found to exhibit weak fluorescence with a maximum emission at 300 nm when excited at 200 nm. Also, fluorescence spectra of the drug and its two main metabolites, O-desmethyltramadol and N-desmethyltramadol are not practically identical. Thus low and different sensitivities have been reported for the drug and its metabolites in previously published work. In the present method using 9-fluorenylmethyl chloroformate (FMOC-Cl) as labeling agent, equal and magnified fluorescence intensity were obtained for the analytes. The drug, its metabolites and an internal standard (oseltamivir phosphate) were extracted from serum by dichloromethane. Pre-column derivatization of the analytes was achieved using FMOC-Cl in the presence of borate buffer (0.1 M, pH 7.5). Liquid chromatography with a mobile phase consisting of a mixture of 0.05 M phosphate buffer containing triethylamine (2 ml L^?1; pH = 3.0) and methanol (54:46; v/v) and a Shimpack CLC-ODS column were used for analytical separation of the analytes. The fluorescence of the column effluent was monitored at an excitation and emission wavelengths of 265 and 315 nm, respectively. The analytical method was linear over the concentration range of 1.0–1,280 ng mL^?1 of the parent drug and its metabolites and limit of quantification of 1.0 ng mL^?1 was obtained for the analytes using 10 μL injection. The method validation was studied and the validated method applied in a bioequivalence study of 2 different tramadol preparations in 24 healthy volunteers.