An ultra-high performance chromatographic method for the determination of artemisinin

Abstract

Objective The goal of this study is to develop an ultra-high performance liquid chromatographic method for the quantitative determination of artemisinin at very low concentrations using selective ion mass spectroscopic detection. Materials and Methods Separation was conducted using a C4 100 mm × 2.1 mm column, and the mobile phase consisted of an isocratic two-component system consisting of 60% of a 0.1% aqueous solution of formic acid and 40% acetonitrile at a flow rate of 0.4 mL/min. The drug was detected by means of an electrospray mass spectrometer with selective ion monitoring of the [M-H2O+H]+ with m/z of 265.3 in positive ion mode. Results The calibration curves of artemisinin obtained from the UPLC/MS system were linear in the three ranges analyzed, with a correlation coefficient of no less than 0.9996 for all sets of standards. The peak tailing factor for all measurements were less than or equal to 1.7. The method proved to have good repeatability and linearity. Discussion The described analytical method reached a LOQ of 0.010 μg/mL with an isocratic system and enables an analysis rate of 20 samples per hour. The linearity of the standards was excellent for all sets of standards analyzed. Conclusion The method presented in this study provides a rapid and suitable means for the determination of artemisinin at very low concentrations. This is especially significant when performing dissolution studies where, due to the low solubility of artemisinin, a method that can measure the drug at nanogram levels is necessary.

Pharmacokinetic interaction study of combining imatinib with dasatinib in rats by UPLC–MS/MS

“…The developed UPLC-MS/MS method, which was used for the subsequent quantitation of the imatinib and dasatinib in plasma, showed faster analysis time than conventional HPLC or LC-MS and tremendously enhanced signal intensity [22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32] . It took only 3 min to finish analyzing a plasma sample, which could save much time in experimental studies with hundreds of samples 33 .…”

Simultaneous Quantification of Five Sesquiterpene Components after Ultrasound Extraction in Artemisia annua L. by an Accurate and Rapid UPLC–PDA Assay

“…The UV or ELSD methods are not sensitive enough, but UPLC uses a smaller particle size column for better resolution and sharper peaks, which improves sensitivity. In general, UV or ELSD methods are inconveniently detected or poorly separated for sesquiterpenoids in A. annua , which tends to lead to over-estimation [20,21].…”