Analysis of primaquine and its metabolite carboxyprimaquine in biological samples: enantiomeric separation, method validation and quantification

The clinical formulation of primaquine (PQ) is a mixture of (-)-(R)- and (+)-(S)- primaquine enantiomers which may show different pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties. To assess the efficacy and toxicity of primaquine enantiomers, a method using LC-MSD-TOF has been developed. The enantiomers were well separated using a Chiralcel OD column (250 × 4.6 mm, 10 µm) with a linear gradient of mobile phase consisting of acetonitrile (0.1% formic acid) and aqueous ammonium formate (20 mm; 0.1% formic acid) adjusted to pH 5.9 at a flow rate of 0.7 mL/min. The method was validated for linearity, precision, accuracy and limits of detection and quantification. The calibration curves were linear with all correlation coefficients being >0.999. The average recoveries of (-)-(R)- and (+)-(S)-primaquine and (-)-(R)- and (+)-(S)-carboxyprimaquine were 88 and 92%, respectively, in spiked human plasma and 89 and 93% respectively in spiked mouse plasma samples. The RSD of (-)-(R)- and (+)-(S)-primaquine and (-)-(R)- and (+)-(S)-carboxyprimaquine were 2.15, 1.74, 1.73 and 2.31, respectively, in spiked human plasma and 2.21, 1.09, 1.95 and 1.17% in spiked mouse plasma, respectively. The intra-day and inter-day precisions expressed as RSD were lower than 10% in all analyzed quality control levels. The method as reported is suitable for study of the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties of the enantiomers of primaquine. The method was successfully applied to study plasma pharmacokinetic profile of enantiomers of primaquine and carboxyprimaquine in mice administered with primaquine in racemic form. The analytical method was found to be linear, accurate, precise and specific.