High-performance liquid chromatographic determination of 6-amidino-2-naphthyl [4-(4,5-dihydro-1H-imidazol-2-yl)amino]benzoate dimethanesulphonate and its metabolites in biological fluids

Abstract

6-Amidino-2-naphthyl [4-(4,5-dihydro-1H-imidazol-2-yl)amino]benzoate dimethanesulphonate has been developed for the therapy of pancreatitis. A reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic assay of the levels of this drug and its metabolites in biological fluids was investigated. Fluorescence detection with post-column alkaline degradation was used for the determination of the intact drug and the amidinonaphthol moiety metabolite, and ultraviolet detection at 254 nm was used to determine the levels of the benzoic acid moiety metabolite. Satisfactory recoveries and variabilities of the intact drug and its metabolites from biological fluids were obtained. The detection limits for the intact drug and amidinonaphthol were 0.5 ng/ml at a signal-to-noise ratio of 12 in plasma and 10 ng/ml at a signal-to-noise ratio of 32 in urine and homogenized faeces, and those of benzoic acid were 5 ng/ml at a signal-to-noise ratio of 3 in plasma and 50 ng/ml at a signal-to-noise ratio of 7 in urine and homogenized faeces.