Isoniazid and cetirizine do not retain well on reversed-phase columns due to their high polarity. Silica columns, when operated under hydrophilic interaction conditions, do provide excellent retention of these compounds. We have developed simple and proof of concept analytical methods for the analysis of isoniazid and cetirizine in animal and human plasma, respectively. Both methods employed the approach of direct injection of solid-phase extraction (SPE) organic eluents onto silica columns for analysis, thus eliminating evaporation and reconstitution steps that are typically needed for reversed-phase liquid chromatographic analysis. Isoniazid was extracted from animal plasma samples using a Waters Oasis HLB 96-well plate and then eluted with acetonitrile, while cetirizine was extracted from human plasma with a Waters MCX mu-Elute plate and then eluted with acetonitrile containing 5% concentrated ammonium hydroxide. The direct injection of the SPE eluent onto the analytical column was necessary since significant loss of isoniazid was found during the evaporation and reconstitution steps. The method for isoniazid also enabled ultra-fast analysis due to the relatively low back-pressure exhibited by silica columns even under high flow conditions. Both methods show good linearity, accuracy and precision covering the range of 10-2000 ng/mL of isoniazid, and 1-1000 ng/mL of cetirizine in plasma. Substantial time savings were realized as a result of both the elimination of the evaporation and reconstitution steps and the fast chromatographic analysis.

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A highly sensitive bioanalytical method based on a simple liquid/liquid extraction and hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (HILIC/MS/MS) analysis has been developed, validated and transferred for the determination of 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanol (NNAL), a tobacco-specific nitrosamine metabolite. Deuterated NNAL (NNAL-d(4)) was synthesized and used as the internal standard. This method can be used for the analysis of free and total NNAL (free NNAL plus NNAL-gluc) in K(3)-EDTA human plasma. Free NNAL and NNAL-d(4) are extracted from human plasma by liquid/liquid extraction. To analyze for total NNAL and the internal standard, a separate aliquot of the K(3)-EDTA human plasma is treated with beta-glucuronidase to deconjugate the NNAL-gluc; the total NNAL and internal standard are then extracted using liquid/liquid extraction. After drying down under nitrogen, the residue is reconstituted with acetonitrile and analyzed using positive ion electrospray and HILIC/MS/MS at a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min. The chromatographic run time is 1.0 min per injection, with retention time for both NNAL and NNAL-d(4) of 0.75 min with a capacity factor (k') of 2. The standard curve range for this assay is from 5.00-1000 pg/mL for both free and total NNAL, using a total plasma sample volume of 1.0 mL. The interday precision and accuracy of the quality control (QC) samples demonstrated <7.6% relative standard deviation (RSD) and <3.3% relative error (RE) for free NNAL. For total NNAL, the interday precision and accuracy of the QC samples demonstrated <11.7% RSD and <2.8% RE. Optimization of enzyme hydrolysis of NNAL-gluc is discussed in detail. The overall recoveries for free and total NNAL and IS were 68.2 and 71.5% (free) and 70.7 and 65.5% (total). No adverse matrix effects were noticed for this assay.

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S-phenylmercapturic acid is widely accepted as a specific biomarker for the evaluation of benzene exposure. Here, we describe a fast, specific and sensitive high-performance liquid achromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method that has been developed and validated for the determination of S-phenylmercapturic acid in human urine. Isotope-labeled S-phenylmercapturic acid-d5 was used as internal standard to improve the method ruggedness. The fully automated solid-phase extraction method on a 96-well Oasis MAX (mix-mode anion exchange) plate was employed to clean up the urine samples before analysis. The rapid LC-MS/MS analysis of extracted samples was achieved on a Genesis C18 column with a run time of only 3 min. Negative electrospray ionization with multiple reaction monitoring (ESI-MRM) mode was used to detect S-phenylmercapturic acid (m/z 238 --> 109) and S-phenylmercapturic acid -d5 (m/z 243 --> 114). The method fulfils all the standard requirements of method validation. The calibration curve was linear within the concentration range 0.400-200 ng/mL. The method performed accurately and precisely in validation with <7.5% relative error and <6.5% relative standard deviation of quality control samples. The method efficacy was also verified by the analysis of urine samples from 12 smokers and 12 non-smokers. With the fully automated sample cleanup procedure and the fast LC-MS/MS analysis, a sample analysis throughput of 384 samples per day could be achieved.