Development of an online solid-phase extraction-liquid chromatography-mass spectrometric analysis of oxcarbazepine and its active metabolite licarbazepine from plasma with a direct injection step

We developed an online solid phase extraction procedure using a hydrophilic-lipophilic balance sorbent, with reversed-phase liquid chromatography-high-resolution mass spectroscopy for the determination of oxcarbazepine and its active metabolite licarbazepine in plasma samples. The analytes were detected using a high-resolution Q Orbitrap mass spectrometer with targeted-selected ion monitoring (t-SIM) in positive scan mode. Under the optimized conditions, the method was linear with R2 values >0.99. The method was linear from 0.008 to 2.000 μg mL−1 and the lower limit of quantification was 0.008 μg mL−1 for both oxcarbazepine and licarbazepine. Recoveries ranged from 92.34 to 104.27% and from matrix-matched samples from 94.26 to 104.19%. The intraday and interday precision RSD values were <9.13% with an associated accuracy of 92.71 to 104.06%. The total time for the one step online procedure was only 8 min. This method provides a direct and accurate measurement for therapeutic drug monitoring of oxcarbazepine and its active metabolite licarbazepine.