Development of a Rapid and Simultaneous Detection Method for Buprenorphine, Norbuprenorphine and Naloxone in Human Plasma Using Ultra‐high Performance Liquid Chromatography‐tandem Mass Spectrometer with Solid‐phase Extraction

Abstract

AbstractA simultaneous method was successfully established and validated for the separation and determination of buprenorphine (BP), its primary metabolite, nor‐buprenorphine (NBP) and a proposed co‐formulate, naloxone (NLX) in human plasma. The method used buprenorphine‐d4 (BP‐D4), nor‐buprenorphine‐d3 (NBP‐D3), naltrexone (NTX) as internal standards (ISs). 100 μL of plasma sample fortified with the ISs was cleaned up by solid‐phase extraction (SPE), and was then separated on a Waters AcquityTM BEH C18 column with gradient elution using methanol and water (containing 0.2% formic) at a flow rate of 0.25 mL·min−1. The mass spectrometer was used for detection and was operated in the positive electrospray ionization with multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode. The three compounds were effectively separated in 5 min. The linear ranges of the compounds were 0.1–25, 0.25–25 and 0.05–25 ng·mL−1 for BP, NBP and NLX, respectively, with r≧0.9935. The method had high sensitivity (the limits of detection were 0.02, 0.1 and 0.01 ng·mL−1 for BP, NBP and NLX, respectively) and high recoveries (≧97.6%). The result was shown to be linear and satisfactorily met current acceptance criteria for validation of bioanalytical method: intra and inter assay precisions within the required limits of ≦25% RSD. The LOQs fulfilled the LOQ requirements: precision≦25% RSD, and was fully validated according to the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) regulations. The results demonstrated that ultra‐high performance liquid chromatography‐tandem mass spectrometer (UPLC‐MS/MS) with SPE was a powerful detection tool and contributed to pharmaceutical analysis in biological matrices.