Background: Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) is one of the major tools for bioanalytical works. These instruments can be used for quantitative determination of plasma samples in pharmacokinetic studies. LC-MS/MS techniques frequently provide specific, selective and sensitive quantitative results often with reduced sample preparation and analysis time relative to other commonly employed techniques.
Methods: The applications of these instruments include analysis of nine corticosteroids illegally adulterated in traditional Chinese medicines, identification of drug metabolites of roxithromycin, propafenone and some glucuronide conjugates and the quantitative determination of plasma samples containing amlodipine, nitrendipine, flupirtine and their major metabolites.
Conclusions: LCQ is ideally suited for the rapid identification of metabolites because it provides on-line LC/MS(n) capability, enabling multiple MS stages to obtain the maximum amount of structural information, while TSQ provides excellent precise and accurate results for quantitative assays at very low detection limits.