Synthesis and characterization of norverapamil and quantification of verapamil and nor-verapamil in plasma

Verapamil is a calcium channel blocking agent which has found widespread use in the management of supraventricular tachyarrhythmias, angina pectoris, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and hypertension. It is converted to its biologically active metabolite nor-verapamil in liver by cytochrome P450. In present communication, synthesis and characterization of nor-verapamil and development of reverse phase high performance liquid chromatographic method for the quantification of nor-verapamil along with verapamil in plasma has been carried out. The characterization of nor-verapamil was carried out using GC-MS, FT-IR and NMR spectroscopy. The separation was carried out with an isocratic JASCO RP-HPLC system using 5 μm KYA TECH HiQ Sil C₁₈ HS column (250 mm × 4.6 mm internal diameter) as a stationary phase and methanol: water: 0.01 M orthophosphoric acid: triethylamine 70: 30: 2: 0.5, v/v/v/v] as mobile phase. The flow rate was maintained at 1.0 mL/min and UV detection at 222 nm. The calibration for verapamil and nor-verapamil were found to be linear over concentration range of 50–300 ng/mL with correlation coefficient (n = 6) of 0.9995 and 0.9997, respectively. This method was validated according to USFDA guidelines. The method was found to be simple, accuare, precise sensitive and selective for the determination of verapamil and nor-verapamil in plasma and thus useful in bioequivalence studies of verapamil.