Determination of rifalazil, a potent antibacterial agent, in human plasma by liquid–liquid extraction and LC–MS/MS

A sensitive assay for determination of rifalazil (also known as ABI-1648 and KRM-1648) in human plasma is described. The analytical method utilizes liquid–liquid extraction of plasma with methyl tert-butyl ether, followed by reversed-phase liquid chromatography with a C 18 column and a mobile phase gradient utilizing 0.1% formic acid in water and acetonitrile, respectively. Electrospray mass spectrometry in the positive ion mode with selected reaction monitoring of rifalazil and an isotope labeled internal standard, 13C 4-rifalazil (ABI-9901) was used for selective and sensitive detection. The calibration range was 0.050–50 ng/mL plasma using 200 μL plasma sample volume. The absolute extraction recovery of rifalazil from K 2-EDTA plasma, evaluated at three concentration levels, was 88.6–97.3%, and the recovery for the internal standard was 96.8%. A study of plasma matrix effects showed a peak area response at 90–99% compared to neat solutions for both rifalazil and the internal standard. Stability evaluation of rifalazil in plasma, whole blood and methanol showed that the analyte stability was adequate when stored under study conditions. The precision, as evaluated in three validation batches, was consistent for fortified plasma quality control (QC) samples at four concentration levels, with ≤6% R.S.D. except for at the lowest quality control level where it was 10.7% R.S.D. The accuracy for QC samples (difference between found and nominal concentration) ranged from −2.3% to 5.1%. Similar precision and accuracy values were obtained over 6 months of routine application of this method. It was concluded that the performance improved markedly during routine operation by replacing a closely related structural analog internal standard with the stable isotope internal standard.