Gas chromatography mass spectrometry studies on biologically important 8-aminoquinoline derivatives.

Several substituted 8-aminoquinolines related to known antimalarial drugs have been studied by gas chromatography mass spectrometry. 5,6-Dihydroxy-8-aminoquinoline, a possible metabolite of Primaquine, can be detected by single ion monitoring after conversion to a trimethylsilyl ether derivative. The mass spectra obtained in this study indicate that there are certain ions which are characteristic of the trimethylsilyl ethers of hydroxylated 8-aminoquinolines and 5,6-dimethoxy-8-aminoquinolines. These compounds should thus be amenable to analysis if they were produced during in vivo metabolism studies. Using selected ion monitoring the derivatized compounds can be detected at submicrogram levels.