Narrow-bore liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry with simultaneous radioactivity monitoring for partially characterizing the biliary metabolites of an arginine fluoroalkyl ketone analog of -MePhe-Pro-Arg, a potent thrombin inhibitor

Characterizing components eluting from a HPLC column is enhanced when multiple detectors are incorporated in-line. The performance of a system consisting of a combination of two detectors - electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (and tandem mass spectrometry) and radioactivity monitoring, following gradient separation with a 250×2.1mm I.D. (Vydac Protein and Peptide C₁₈, 5 μm, 300 Å) column - is evaluated with respect to chromatographic integrity and detection. The HPLC effluent was split (8:1) and a post-column make-up solvent was added to flow directed towards the radioactivity detector containing a solid glass cell. Trifluoracetic acid (0.1%) was added to the make-up flow solvent to prevent silanol interactions from degrading the profile displayed in the ¹⁴C trace. A ¹⁴C chromatographic peak representing 550 dpm was detected with signal-to-noise ratio of 3. This system was used for rapidly characterizing the biliary metabolites of an arginine fluoroalkyl ketone analog of -MePhe-Pro-Arg, a potent thrombin inhibitor currently being evaluated as a drug candidate. These metabolites are shown to comprise of mono- and dihydroxylated drug as well as a reduced ketone form of the drug. Combining the radioactivity monitor in-line with the mass spectrometer ensured that all of the major metabolites (as evident from the ¹⁴C profile) were characterized by mass spectrometry.