Assay method for the carboxylic acid metabolite of clopidogrel in human plasma by gas chromatography mass spectrometry

This paper describes a GC-MS method for the analysis of the carboxylic acid metabolite (SR26334, II) of methyl (+)-(S)-alpha-(o-chlorophenyl)-6,7-dihydrothieno[3,2-c]pyridine-5(4H) -acetate hydrogensulfate (clopidogrel, SR 25990, I) in plasma and serum. The analytical procedure involves a robotic liquid-liquid extraction with diethyl ether followed by a solid-liquid extraction on C-18 cartridges. The derivatization process was performed using n-ethyl diisopropylethylamine and alpha-bromo-2,3,4,5,6-pentafluoro toluene. A structural analogue (III) of II, was used as internal standard. The 1/X-2 weighted calibration curve obtained in the range 5-250 ng/ml was well described by a quadratic equation. The extraction efficiency was better than 48% over the range studied; for the internal standard it averaged 51% at 50 ng/ml. Precision ranged from 3.6 to 15.8%, and accuracy was between 92 and 114%. Dilution has no influence on the performance of the method which could then be used to quantitate plasma samples containing up to 25000 ng/ml. The limit of quantification was 5 ng/ml. The method validation results indicate that the performance characteristics of the method fulfilled the requirements for assay methods for use in pharmacokinetic studies. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.