Determination of the antiallergenic agent, N-[4-(1H-imidazol-1-YL)butyl]-2-(1-methylethyl)-11-oxo-11H-pyrido[2,1,-b]quinazoline-8-carboxamide, in plasma by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic analysis using fluorometric detection

A rapid, sensitive and selective high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) assay was developed for the determination of the antiallergenic compound N-4-(1H-imidazol-1-yl)butyl]-2-(1-methylethyl)-11-oxo-11H-pyrido2,1-b] quinazoline-8-carboxamide (I), and its major metabolite, 2-(1-methylethyl)-11-oxo-11H-pyrido2,1-b] quinazoline-8-carboxylic acid (I-A), in plasma. The assay involves precipitation of the plasma proteins with aceto-nitrile—methanol (9:1), followed by the analysis of an aliquot of the protein-free filtrate by reversed-phase ion-pair HPLC with fluorescence detection for quantitation. The analogous compound, N-6-(1H-imidazol-1-yl)hexyl]-2-(1-methylethyl)-11-oxo-11H-pyrido2,1-b]-quinazoline-8-carbonxamide (II), is used as the internal standard. The overall recovery of compounds I and I-A from plasma is 107.0 ± 8.6% and 107.0 ± 10.0%, respectively. The sensitivity limits of quantitation are 20 ng of I, and 10 ng of I-A per ml of plasma using a 0.5-ml aliquot. The assay was used to monitor the plasma concentrations of I and of I-A in a dog following a 5 mg/kg intravenous infusion of I · 2HCl, a 10mg/kg oral dose of I · 2HCl and of metabolite I-A.