Determination of Eupatilin in Human Plasma by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography–Tandem Mass Spectrometry

Abstract

A rapid, sensitive and selective liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometric method (LC-MS-MS) for the determination of eupatilin in human plasma has been developed. Eupatilin and an internal standard; (S)-N-(3-{3-fluoro-4-[6-(1-methyl-1H-tetrazol-5-yl)-pyridine-3-yl]-phenyl}-2-oxo-oxazolidin-5-ylmethyl)-acetamide (DA-7867) were extracted from human plasma by liquid-liquid extractionand analyzed on a phenyl-hexyl column using the mobile phase: acetonitrile-ammonium formate (10 mM, pH 3.0) (60:40, ν/ν). Analytes were detected using electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry in multiple-reaction monitoring mode. The calibration curve was linear (r = 0.999) over the concentration range: 1.00–500 ng mL⁻¹ with a lower limit of quantification of 1.0 ng mL⁻¹ using a 100 μL plasma sample. The precision (CV%) of this assay ranged: 2.4–7.0%, relative error: −7.0 to +2.0%. Recoveries of eupatilin ranged: 64.3–65.0%, with that of DA-7867 (internal standard) being 87.0 ± 5.3%.