DETERMINATION OF THE MAIN METABOLITE (DESETHYL KBT-3022) OF A NEW ANTIPLATELET AGENT, KBT-3022 IN PLASMA BY GAS-CHROMATOGRAPHY

A highly sensitive, accurate and reproducible gas chromatographic method for the determination of a main metabolite, 2-[4,5-bis(4-methoxy-phenyl)thiazol-2-yl] pyrrol-ylacetic acid (desethyl KBT-3022) of a new antiplatelet agent, ethyl 2-[4,5-bis(4-methoxyphenyl)thiazol-2-yl]pyrrol-1-ylacetate (KBT-3022), in the human or dog plasma has been developed. Desethyl KBT-3022 in the plasma was extracted with a mixture of n-hexane and dichloromethane (1 : 1), and was derivatized using pentafluorobenzyl bromide. The obtained pentafluorobenzyl derivative of desethyl KBT-3022 in the plasma was separated by high-performance liquid chromatography. After the separation, the pentafluorobenzyl derivative of desethyl KBT-3022 was detected by gas chromatography. Gas chromatography was performed with a Ultra 1 column (12 m x 0.22 mm i.d., film thickness 0.33-mu-m), using an electron capture detector. 2-[2-{4,5-Bis(4-methoxyphenyl)thiazol-2-yl}pyrrol-l-yl]propionic acid was used as an internal standard. The detection limit of desethyl KBT-3022 in the plasma was 0.2 ng/ml. The coefficients of variation were below 5.3%. This method was applied to the determination of the plasma concentration of desethyl KBT-3022 after oral administration of KBT-3022 to dogs.