Liquid chromatographic determination of triethylenetetramine in human and rabbit sera based on intramolecular excimer-forming fluorescence derivatization

A highly selective and simple fluorimetric liquid chromatographic method for the determination of triethylenetetramine (TETA), a therapeutic drug for Wilson's disease, in human and rabbit sera is described. This method is based on intramolecular excimer-forming fluorescence derivatization, which allows spectrofluorometric discrimination of polyamino compounds from monoamino species, followed by liquid chromatography. TETA and 1,6-hexanediamine (internal standard) were converted to the corresponding excimer-forming derivatives with a pyrene reagent, 4-(1-pyrene)butyric acid N-hydroxysuccinimide ester. The derivatives were separated within 20 min on a reversed-phase column using isocratic elution and detected spectofluorometrically at 480 nm with excitation at 345 nm. This method was successfully applied to the monitoring of TETA in human and rabbit sera with a simple pretreatment. The detection limit for TETA in serum was 18 ng/ml (0.13 nmol/ml) corresponding to 0.2 pmol on column at a signal-to-noise ratio of 3.