We have developed a highly sensitive, simple method for the quantitative determination of miglitol in standard serum samples using column-switching ion-pair HPLC with tris(2,2′-bipyridine)ruthenium(II)-electrogenerated chemiluminescence detection. The serum samples were directly injected into a column-switching HPLC system with a Shim-pack MAYI-SCX precolumn to remove the serum matrix. Chromatographic separation of miglitol was achieved on a TSKgel ODS 100-V column using a mobile phase containing sodium 1-octanesulfonate as an ion-pair reagent. The detection and quantification limits of miglitol were 3 and 10 ng/ mL, respectively. The calibration curve for miglitol in the serum samples showed good linearity (r 2 0.9997) in the range of 10-2500 ng/mL. The recovery rate of miglitol from the serum samples was more than 94% as calculated from blank serum samples spiked with miglitol 50, 100, 500, 1000, and 2000 ng/mL. Therefore, this method can be applied to routine therapeutic monitoring of miglitol in serum samples.Key words miglitol; tris(2,2′-bipyridine)ruthenium(II); column-switching ion-pair HPLC Type 2 diabetes, formerly called non-insulin-dependent diabetes, is a costly disease; in 2013, approximately 300 million people worldwide were affected, according to the International Diabetes Federation.1) Miglitol, a type of α-glucosidase inhibitor (α-GI), is useful for the treatment of type 2 diabetes because it inhibits the activity of disaccharide-hydrolyzing enzyme in the small intestine, which has a lowering effect on postprandial blood glucose and insulin levels. [2][3][4][5] Recently, it was demonstrated that miglitol prevents reactive hypoglycemia secondary to late dumping syndrome. Furthermore, miglitol is more effective than two other α-GIs, voglibose and acarbose.6) To achieve rapid therapeutic monitoring and pharmacokinetic studies of miglitol, a rapid and simple method for its quantification in blood samples is required. The enzyme inhibition assay for quantification of miglitol in plasma and urine samples seems unreliable with regard to sensitivity and selectivity.7) An alternative is the liquid chromatographic-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) assay for the quantification of miglitol in plasma, 8,9) which is sensitive and can give reliable results, but requires expensive instrumentation and has a high operating cost. In addition, this method requires a time-consuming cleanup procedure to remove interference in biological samples. Thus, it is not suitable for routine analysis of miglitol.We previously reported the development and application of a column-switching HPLC method with tris(2,2′-bipyridine)-ruthenium(II)-electrogenerated chemiluminescence (ECL) detection. [10][11][12][13][14] Chemiluminescence (CL) has become a powerful analytical tool for a large variety of analyses because it has a low detection limit and wide linear dynamic range while requiring relatively simple instrumentation. The column-switching system avoids off-line sample preparation procedures such as traditional solid-phase ex...