title: Determination of sodium artesunate in plasma using ion-pairing high-performance liquid chromatography.
abstract: A chromatographic method is described for the determination of sodium artesunate in plasma. This includes cetyltrimethylammonium bromide as a cationic pairing ion in a reversed-phase system using an octadecylsilica 100 x 4.6 mm I.D. 3 microm analytical column with a mobile phase of acetonitrile/acetate buffer at pH7. Column switching incorporating a 5 microm octadecylsilica 100 x 4.6 mm I.D. precolumn is used in addition to off-line solid-phase extraction for pretreatment of plasma samples in order to eliminate interference from endogenous components. Detection is by post-column derivatisation with 1.0 M methanolic KOH followed by UV detection at 289 nm. Calibration is linear over the range 100-1600 ng ml(-1) and the limit of detection is estimated as 20 ng ml(-1). Illustrative results are shown of the artesunate plasma levels determined by the proposed method following the administration of artesunate as tablets and as suppositories to healthy volunteers.
authors.affiliation: The School of Pharmacy, The Robert Gordon University, Schoolhill, Aberdeen, UK. pasrbt@mailer.rgu.ac.uk
authors.forename: R B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.forename: M I
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Awad
authors.forename: R G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Reid
authors.forename: R R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Moody
mesh_terms: D000962:Antimalarials / Q000097:blood* / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D037621:Artemisinins; D000077332:Artesunate; D002138:Calibration; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D012015:Reference Standards; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012717:Sesquiterpenes / Q000097:blood* / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D013056:Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet
chemical_list: D000962:Antimalarials; D037621:Artemisinins; D012717:Sesquiterpenes; D000077332:Artesunate