A sensitive and simultaneous liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method was developed and validated for quantification of ethinyl estradiol and levonorgestrel. The analytes were extracted with methyl-tert-butyl ether: n-hexane (50:50, v/v) solvent mixture, followed by dansyl derivatization. The chromatographic separation was performed on a Kinetex C18 (50 mm × 4.6 mm, 2.6μm) column with a mobile phase of 0.1% (v/v) formic acid in water and acetonitrile in gradient composition. The mass transitions were monitored in electrospray positive ionization mode. The assay exhibited a linear range of 0.100-20.0 ng/mL for levonorgestrel and 4.00-500 pg/mL for ethinyl estradiol in human plasma. A run time of 9.0 min for each sample made it possible to analyze a throughput of more than 100 samples per day. The validated method has been successfully used to analyze human plasma samples for application in pharmacokinetic and bioequivalence studies.

A selective and rapid high-performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry method was developed and validated for the quantification of raltegravir using raltegravir-d3 as an internal standard (IS). The analyte and IS were extracted with methylene chloride and n-hexane solvent mixture from 100 mL human plasma. The chromatographic separation was achieved on a Chromolith RP-18e endcapped C18 (100 mm ? 4.6 mm) column in a run time of 2.0 min. Quantitation was performed in the negative ionization mode using the transitions of m/z 443.1-316.1 for raltegravir and m/z 446.1-319.0 for IS. The linearity of the method was established in the concentration range of 2.0–6000 ng/mL. The mean extraction recovery for raltegravir and IS was 92.6% and 91.8%, respectively, and the IS-normalized matrix factors for raltegravir ranged from 0.992 to 0.999. The application of this method was demonstrated by a bioequivalence study on 18 healthy subjects.

A selective, sensitive and high throughput liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectro-metry (LC-ESI-MS/MS) method has been developed for separation and quantification of metoprolol enantiomers on a chiral Lux Amylose-2 (250 mm×4.6 mm, 5 mm) column. Solid phase extraction of (S)-(-)- and (R)-(t)-metoprolol and rac-metoprolol-d6 as an internal standard (IS) was achieved on Lichrosep DVB HL cartridges employing 200 mL human plasma. Both the analytes were chromatographically separated with a resolution factor of 2.24 using 15 mM ammonium acetate in water, pH 5.0 and 0.1% (v/v) diethyl amine in acetonitrile (50:50, v/v) as the mobile phase within 7.0 min. The precursor-product ion transitions for the enantiomers and IS were monitored in the multiple reaction monitoring and positive ionization mode. The method was validated over the concentration range of 0.500-500 ng/mL for both the enantiomers. Matrix effect was assessed by post-column analyte infusion experiment and the mean extraction recovery was greater than 94.0% for both the enantiomers at all quality control levels. The stability of analytes was evaluated in plasma and whole blood under different storage conditions. The method was successfully applied to a clinical study in 14 healthy volunteers after oral administration of 200 mg metoprolol tablet under fasting conditions. The assay reproducibility is shown by reanalysis of 68 incurred samples. The suitability of the developed method was assessed in comparison with different chromatographic methods developed for stereoselective analysis of metoprolol in biological matrices.