title: Simple and Highly Sensitive UPLC-ESI-MS/MS Assay for Rapid Determination of Suvorexant in Plasma.
abstract: Suvorexant is a dual orexin receptor antagonist, recently approved by USFDA for the treatment of insomnia. It is drug-of-abuse and listed in Schedule IV drug of the Controlled Substances Act. In this study, a simple and highly sensitive UPLC-MS/MS assay was developed and fully validated for the determination of suvorexant in rat plasma. Both suvorexant and internal standard (rivaroxaban; IS) were separated on Aquity BEHTM C18 column after the extraction form plasma using diethyl ether as extracting agent. An isocratic mobile phase, consisting of acetonitrile and 10 mM ammonium acetate in composition ratio of 85:15 was eluted at flow rate of 0.3 mL/min. Both suvorexant and IS were eluted within one min with total run time of 1.5 min only. The ionization was performed on electrospray ionization interface in positive mode by multiple reaction monitoring. Precursor to product ion transition of 451.12 > 104.01 for qualifier and 451.12 > 186.04 for quantifier were used for suvorexant whereas 436.10 > 144.93 for IS, respectively. The calibration curves in plasma were linear in the concentration range of 0.33-200 ng/mL (r2 ≥ 0.995) having limit of detection and limit of quantification of 0.10 and 0.33 ng/mL, respectively. All the validation parameters results were found to be within the acceptable limits according to the "Scientific Working Group for Forensic Toxicology (SWGTOX) guidelines" and can be implemented for forensic analysis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.|Bioavailability Laboratory, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Muzaffar
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Iqbal
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.|Bioavailability Laboratory, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Essam
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ezzeldin
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Nasr Y
authors.initials: NY
authors.lastname: Khalil
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Sara T A
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Al-Rashood
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Khalid A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Al-Rashood
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001381:Azepines / Q000097:blood*; D002853:Chromatography, Liquid / Q000379:methods*; D013287:Illicit Drugs / Q000097:blood*; D057230:Limit of Detection; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D000068776:Sleep Aids, Pharmaceutical / Q000097:blood*; D021241:Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization / Q000379:methods*; D053719:Tandem Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*; D014230:Triazoles / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D001381:Azepines; D013287:Illicit Drugs; D000068776:Sleep Aids, Pharmaceutical; D014230:Triazoles; C551624:suvorexant