Detection and separation of the anthrapyrazole CI-941 and its metabolites in serum and urine by high-performance liquid chromatography.

A high-performance liquid chromatographic method using ion-pairing chromatography on reversed-phase C18 material with a mobile phase of acetonitrile-water (19:81, v/v) containing 5 mM 1-pentanesulfonic acid was developed for the detection and separation of the anthrapyrazole CI-941 (I) and its metabolites. After sample clean-up with solid-phase extraction, I and its metabolites were measurable at a wavelength of 491 nm. A detection limit of 5 ng/ml was achievable for I. The dicarboxylic acid derivative and the isomers of the monocarboxylic acid derivative could be separated. Application of the method to a human pharmacokinetic study showed two and four metabolites of I in serum and urine respectively.