Preparative HPLC for the Facile Isolation of Drug Glucuronide Conjugates from Crude Extracts of Urine

Abstract

Reverse-phase preparative HPLC has been used to advantage for the isolation of crystalline quantities of drug glucuronide conjugates from crude urinary extracts. Following chronic administration of large doses of diazepam, levorphanol and hydroxyethylflurazepam to dogs, urine was collected and the water soluble drug conjugates adsorbed on a column of Amberlite XAD-2 resin. In each instance elution with methanol and solvent evaporation yielded a crude oil (approx. 3 g) which was chromatographed in one portion on either PrepPAK 500 C₁₈ (Waters) or Magnum 40 ODS-3 (Whatman) columns using aqueous methanol solvent systems. A greater than 90% purification was achieved in this single initial chromatographic step. Employing a combination of subsequent semi-preparative HPLC steps on either C₁₈ or silica gel columns, milligram quantities of the glucuronides of oxazepam, levorphanol and hydroxyethylflurazepam were isolated. The isolation procedures provide a general approach for obtaining milligram quantities of intact drug conjugates which may otherwise be difficult to obtain by chemical synthesis. Such conjugates can be used as authentic standards in the quantitation of certain drug metabolites in biological media during pharmacokinetic/biopharmaceutic studies.