High-performance liquid chromatography for the determination of three new fluoroquinolones, fleroxacin, temafloxacin and A-64730, in biological fluids

High-performance liquid chromatographic procedures have been developed for the measurement of three new fluoroquinolones, fleroxacin, temafloxacin and A-64730, in serum, urine and bile. The sample treatment consists of a two-step chemical extraction. The three molecules are chromatographed on a C18 reversed-phase analytical column with spectrofluorimetric detection. At a signal-to-noise ratio of 4, the detection limits in serum are 2.5, 10 and 20 ng/ml, for fleroxacin, temafloxacin and A-64730, respectively. The calibration curves are rectilinear between these detection limits and 20 micrograms/ml. The intra- and inter-assay coefficients of variation are in the ranges 0.8-5.4 and 2.2-7.6%, respectively. These simple and reliable assay procedures will be of great interest for further pharmacokinetic studies and drug monitoring in hospital use.