The identification and characterization of the metabolites during the early stages of discovery and development of new drug candidates are essential to establish the metabolic clearance as well as the potential pharmacological and/or toxicological effects. Hence, feasible methods of analysis, preferably rapid and simple, are required to satisfy the increasing demand of metabolite profiling studies. Areas covered: This paper reviews the topic of metabolite profiling in drug discovery based on liquid chromatography, with especial emphasis on chromatographic modes and detectors. Features and possibilities of the different options are critically discussed. Expert opinion: High performance analytical techniques are fundamental to gain unambiguous information on metabolites of new drugs. In this regard, liquid chromatography hyphenated to mass spectrometric detection is the most popular approach. The diversity of chromatographic modes and the great variety of separation columns available offer innumerable analytical possibilities to characterize and quantify compounds with a broad range of physicochemical properties.
Keywords: Metabolite profiling; drug discovery; liquid chromatography; mass spectrometry; structural elucidation.