Flow-injection method variables, study

An isocratic HPLC method for screening plasma samples for sixteen different non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (including etodolac) has been developed [29]. The extraction efficiency from plasma was 98%. Plasma samples (100-500 pL) were spiked with internal standard (benzoyl-4-phenyl)-2-butyric acid and 1 M HC1 and were extracted with diethyl ether. The organic phase was separated, evaporated, the dry residue reconstituted in mobile phase (acetonitrile-0.3% acetic acid-tetrahydrofuran, in a 36 63.1 0,9 v/v ratio), and injected on a reverse-phase ODS 300 x 3.9 mm i.d. column heated to 40°C. A flow rate of 1 mL/min was used, and UV detection at 254 nm was used for quantitation. The retention time of etodolac was 30.0 minutes. The assay was found to be linear over the range of 0.2 to 100 pg/mL, with a limit of detection of 0.1 pg/mL. The coefficients of variation for precision and reproducibility were 2.9% and 6.0%, respectively. Less than 1% variability for intra-day, and less than 5% for inter-day, in retention times was obtained. The effect of various factors, such as, different organic solvents for extraction, pH of mobile phase, proportion of acetonitrile and THF in mobile phase, column temperature, and different detection wavelengths on the extraction and separation of analytes was studied. 

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