DETERMINATION OF REMOXIPRIDE IN HUMAN PLASMA AND URINE BY REVERSED-PHASE ION-PAIR HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHY

A sensitive method is described for the measurement of remoxipride in human plasma and urine. Remoxipride and its internal standard are extracted from plasma or urine at pH 12 with a mixture of hexane and methyl tert.-butyl ether. After washing the organic phase with base, the compounds are extracted into acid and analyzed on a C18 column with ultraviolet detection at 214 nm. The mobile phase is composed of acetonitrile and aqueous buffer (sodium perchlorate and phosphoric acid, pH 1.7). The limits of reliable quantitation for remoxipride are 12.5 and 50 ng/ml for plasma and urine, respectively. The run times are 6 min for plasma and 3 min for urine. The method has been successfully used to assay remoxipride clinical study samples. This mobile phase has also been successfully applied to the analysis of other basic drugs such as cimetidine, codeine, diltiazem and quinidine with minor modifications.