UPLC MS/MS assay for routine quantification of dabigatran - a direct thrombin inhibitor - in human plasma.

This article described the development and full validation of rapid and accurate liquid chromatography method, coupled with tandem mass spectrometry detection, for quantification of dabigatran in human plasma with [(13)C(6)]-dabigatran as internal standard. Plasma pretreatment involved a single step protein precipitation with methanol. Separation was performed by ultra performance reversed-phase chromatography on an Acquity UPLC BEH C8 100 mm × 1 mm × 1.7 μm column using a gradient elution mode. The mobile phase was a mix of distilled water containing 0.1% formic acid and methanol containing 0.1% formic acid. Specific multiple reaction monitoring transitions were recorded in positive electrospray ionization. The method was linear over the concentration range of 2-500 μg/L. The intra- and inter-day precision values were below 11.3% and accuracy was within 93.8% and 108.8% for all QC levels (5, 75 and 400 μg/L). The lower limit of quantification was 2 μg/L. Total analysis time was to 10 min including sample preparation.