Determination of 2′-deoxy-3′-thiacytidine (3TC) in human urine by liquid chromatography: direct injection with column switching

3TC (GR109714X) is a cytidine dideoxynucleoside analogue which has been shown to have in vitro activity against a variety of strains of HIV- I and is currently being investigated in clinical trials as a treatment for HIV infection. An HPLC method for the determination of 3TC in human urine has been developed and validated. The method allows direct injection of urine (10 μl) using HPLC column switching followed by UV detection. On-line extraction is performed using a Spherisorb-SCX (5 μm, 20 × 4.0 mm) eluted with deionized water at 1 ml min −1. 3TC is retained while the bulk of urine constituents are eluted to waste. The SCX column is then backflushed to a BDS-Hypersil-C l8. (5 μm, 250 × 4.6 mm) and eluted with 100 mM acetate pH 4.5-methanol (95:5, v/v) for final separation. 3TC is detected by UV absorbance at λ = 285. The quantitation range of the assay was 0.5–500 μg ml −1. The method has demonstrated sufficient ruggedness to be used in support of 3TC clinical trials. Application to other cytidine analogues including DDC has been demonstrated.