High-performance liquid chromatographic analysis of the metabolism of primaquine and the identification of a new mammalian metabolite.

Using rats that had been dosed with 20 mg/kg of primaquine diphosphate (11.4 mg/kg free base), it was found that the drug underwent a metabolic oxidative deamination to give 8-(3-carboxy-1-methylpropylamino)-6-methoxyquinoline. The presence of this new mammalian metabolite was verified using high-performance liquid chromatographic, gas chromatographic, and mass spectral methods. A quantitative high-performance liquid chromatographic method for the determination of primaquine and the carboxylic acid metabolite in plasma using only 50 microliters of whole blood from the rat was developed and the method could be used to detect levels as low as 0.05 microgram/ml of the metabolite. Following intravenous administration of the drug, it was found that the plasma levels of primaquine fell very rapidly and after 30 min, the levels of the metabolite were much higher than those of primaquine.