Fully automated determination of a new anthracycline N-l-leucyldoxorubicin and six metabolites in plasma by high-performance liquid chromatography with on-line sample handling

N-l-Leucyldoxorubicin (Leu-Dox) was developed as a prodrug of doxorubicin (Dox) in order to diminish the cardiotoxic side-effect associated with repeated anthracycline treatment. To study the pharmacokinetics of Leu-Dox, Dox and other metabolites a sensitive and selective assay was needed. Leu-Dox and six of its known metabolites were extracted from plasma using an in-line reversed-phase precolumn (40–50 μm C8 particles). The trapped analytes were subsequently flushed to the analytical column (3 μm C18) using 0.5 ml of phosphate buffer (pH 3.5)—acetonitrile (2:1, v/v), which also served as the isocratic mobile phase. Within 12 min, a clean baseline-resolved chromatogram is obtained by fluorescence detection. Recoveries were almost quantitative and highly reproducible, with standard deviations ⩽ 5.4% and ⩽ 2.7% at spiked concentrations of 10 and 100 nM. Using 300 μl of plasma, detection limits ranged from 0.3 to 0.8 nM at a signal-to-noise ratio of 3. The calibration curves were linear from 1 to 300 nM (r2 ⩾ 0.999) for each of the seven compounds. The between-day accuracy was in the range 91–99% and 99–105% at 10 and 100 nM, respectively, with standard deviations of 1–4%. Application of the assay to the analysis of plasma from patients after administration of Leu-Dox proved successful.