Determination of the Antimalarial Primaquine in Whole Blood and Urine by Normal-Phase High-Performance Liquid Chromatography

A method has been developed to estimate primaquine in whole blood and urine by sensitive and selective high-performance liquid chromatography. Using the linear chain analogue of primaquine as the internal standard, a single-step extraction, normal-phase silica column with a basic mobile phase, levels down to 1 ng/ml of primaquine could be measured with good precision. Other anti-malarials like amodiaquine and pyrimethamine did not interfere in the assay. The major carboxylic acid metabolite of primaquine did not elute under the normal-phase chromatographic conditions. The method is suitable for use in clinical pharmacokinetic studies with primaquine.