Determination of amifloxacin and two of its principal metabolites in plasma and urine by high-performance liquid chromatography using automated column switching

The automated determination of amifloxacin and two of its principal metabolites in human plasma and urine by column-switching high-performance liquid chromatography is described. Plasma or urine samples, diluted 1:1 with 0.5 M sodium citrate buffer pH 2.5, were directly injected onto a cation-exchange pre-column. Following a 2.0-min wash of the pre-column with water at a flow-rate of 1.1 ml/min, the effluent from the pre-column was directed to the analytical column by a column-switching device. The precision of the plasma and urine methods ranged from a +/- 1.9 to +/- 3.6% for all compounds. The accuracies of the methods were within a range of -3.3% to 6.4% of the nominal values for all compounds. Linear responses were observed for all the standards in the range 0.10-5.0 micrograms/ml for plasma and 0.50-100 micrograms/ml for urine for all three compounds. The minimum quantifiable levels were 0.10 and 0.50 micrograms/ml for plasma and urine, respectively. The analytical methods may be used to quantify amifloxacin and the piperazinyl-N-desmethyl and piperazinyl-N-oxide metabolites in plasma and urine samples obtained from humans, monkeys, dogs and rats.