A rapid high-performance liquid chromatographic method for the determination of pantoprazole in plasma using UV detection. Application in pharmacokinetic studies.

A rapid, sensitive and reproducible HPLC method was developed and validated for the analysis of pantoprazole (CAS 102625-70-7) in human plasma. The separation was achieved on a monolithic silica column using acetonitrile-potassium dihydrogen phosphate buffer (25:75,v/v), pH 3.0, as the mobile phase at a flow rate of 1.5 ml min(-1). The wavelength was set at 290 nm. The assay enables the measurement of pantoprazole for therapeutic drug monitoring with a minimum quantification limit of 20 ng ml(-1). The method involves a simple protein precipitation procedure. Analyticil recovery was complete. The calibration curve was linear over the concentration range 20-3500 ng ml(-1) The coefficients of variation forthe inter-day and intra-day assay were found to be less than 7%.