Analytical Sciences

Application of On-line Electrochemistry/Electrospray/Tandem Mass Spectrometry to a Quantification Method for the Antipsychotic Drug Zotepine in Human Serum

Kazuyoshi NOZAKI, Issey OSAKA, Hideya KAWASAKI, and Ryuichi ARAKAWA

Department of Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, Materials and Bioengineering, Kansai University, 3-3-35 Yamate, Suita, Osaka 564-8680, Japan

A simple, rapid, and sensitive on-line liquid chromatographic electrochemistry/electrospray/tandem mass spectrometry (LC-EC/ESI-MS/MS) method for the determination of zotepine in human serum was developed using a new generated-electrochemically fragment ion, and was validated. A recent novel technique of LC-EC/ESI-MS/MS that combines LC-MS/MS and the on-line EC reaction is potentially applicable to developing a quantification method for drugs in biological samples. Newly formed products generated by the on-line EC cell are expected to provide appropriate precursor and product ions for the MS/MS determination method. This technique was successfully applied to a drug assay in a biological matrix. After adding imipramine (IS) to a 30-μL aliquot of human serum, the resulting sample was simply deproteinated with acetonitrile for a measurement. The analytical run time was 5 min. The calibration curve was linear in the concentration range of 10 − 2000 ng/mL. The intra-assay precision and accuracy were in the range of 1.8 − 8.9 and 98.4 − 113%, respectively.

J-STAGE: View this article in J-STAGE