Determination of the antiplatelet agent. KB-3022, and its metabolite by high-performance liquid chromatography.

A rapid, accurate and reproducible high-performance liquid chromatographic method for the simultaneous determination of a new antiplatelet agent, ethyl 2-[4,5-bis(4-methoxyphenyl)thiazol-2-yl]pyrrol-1-ylacetate (KB-3022), and its main metabolite, 2-[4,5-bis(4-methoxyphenyl)thiazol-2-yl]pyrrol-1-ylacetic acid (desethyl KB-3022), in biological fluids has been developed. KB-3022 and desethyl KB-3022 in plasma or urine were extracted with a mixture of n-hexane and dichloromethane (1:1), separated on a reversed-phase C18 column with a mixture of 0.01 M (NH4)2HPO4 (pH 3.0), acetonitrile and isopropyl alcohol as a mobile phase, and quantitated by ultraviolet absorbance measurement at 340 nm. 4-[2-(4,5-bis(4-methoxyphenyl)thiazol-2-yl)pyrrol-1-yl]butyric acid was used as an internal standard. The detection limit of KB-3022 in plasma was 3 ng/ml, and that of KB-3022 in urine and desethyl KB-3022 in plasma or urine was 1 ng/ml. The coefficients of variation for the determination of KB-3022 or desethyl KB-3022 in plasma or urine were below 5.6%. This method was applied to the determination of the plasma concentration of KB-3022 and desethyl KB-3022 after intravenous administration to rats.