Determination of the New Ace-Inhibitor Quinapril and Its Active Metabolite Quinaprilate in Plasma and Urine by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography and Pre-Column Labelling for Fluorescent-Detection

Abstract

A sensitive and selective method for the determination of quinapril and its active metabolite quinaprilate in human plasma and urine is described. The method is based on isolation using C18 Bond Elut cartridges, pre-column derivatization with 9-anthryldiazo-methane and purification of the reaction mixture on CBA columns followed by reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography with fluorometric detection. Calibration curves were linear between 20 ng and 1000 ng/ml of plasma (100-2000 ng for urine) for both substances, the lower limit of detection being 5-10 ng/ml.

The present assay procedure has been applied to monotoring plasma and urine concentrations in several pharmacokinetic studies in humans.