Metabolism of pyrazole. Structure elucidation of urinary metabolites.

Pyrazole has been widely used as an inhibitor of alcohol dehydrogenase both in vivo and in vitro. Very little attention has been paid to the metabolism of this agent and possible biological activity of any metabolites. Several isotopic variants of pyrazole, both stable and radioactive, were used in a study of its metabolic fate by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Seven metabolites were structurally identified and included hydroxylated and conjugated derivatives of pyrazole. Two metabolites were conjugated with a pentose, perhaps indicating that pyrazole serves as a substrate in the salvage pathway of purines and pyrimidines forming pyrazole ribosides. The use of d3-pyrazole greatly enhanced structural assignment of the metabolites by revealing the metabolism at or next to a labeled carbon atom.