Rapid and sensitive LC-MS/MS method for the enantioanalysis of verapamil in rat plasma using superficially porous silica isopropyl-cyclofructan 6 chiral stationary phase after SPE: Application to a stereoselective pharmacokinetic study.

Abstract A novel liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) method for the rapid and sensitive enantioselective analysis of verapamil (VER) in rat plasma was developed and validated using new superficially porous silica isopropyl-cyclofructan 6 chiral column (LarihcShell-P, LSP). The isocratic mobile phase composed of acetonitrile: trifluoroacetic acid: 10 mM ammonium formate (100 : 0.1 : 0.1, v/v/v) at a flow rate of 0.3 mL/min was applied. Sulpride was utilized as the internal standard (IS). Positive multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode was used for mass spectrometry analysis, and the process of analysis was run for 5.2 min. The (S)-(-)- and (R)-(+)-VER enantiomers with the IS were extracted from plasma by using solid-phase extraction (SPE) procedure before the analysis. The C18 cartridge gave good recovery rates for both enantiomers without interference from plasma endogenous. The developed assay was successfully validated following the US-FDA guidelines. The method was linear over concentration ranges of 0.5–500 ng/mL (r2 ≥ 0.997) for each enantiomer (plasma). The lower limits of quantification (LLOQ) for both isomers were 0.5 ng/mL. The intra- and inter-day relative standard deviations (RSD) were less than 8.7 % and the recoveries of (S)-(-)- and (R)-(+)-VER at three spiked levels of 1.5, 250.0 and 450.0 ranged from 92.0%–98.6%. The developed assay was effectively applied in monitoring the stereoselective pharmacokinetic study of VER enantiomers in rat plasma following oral administration of racemic VER. The pharmacokinetic parameters revealed that (S)-(-)-VER demonstrated prominently higher Cmax and AUC values than (R)-(+)-enantiomer. The newly developed approach is the first chiral LC–MS/MS for the quantification of (S)-(-)- and (R)-(+)-VER utilizing superficially porous silica isopropyl-cyclofructan 6 chiral column in rat plasma after SPE.