A Simple Isocratic High-Performance Liquid Chromatographic (HPLC) Determination of Naproxen in Human Plasma using a Microbore Column Technique

Abstract

A simple and sensitive HPLC method was developed for the determination of naproxen in human plasma. The assay employs a microbore column packed with a C18 reversed-phase material (5 μm ODS Hypersil) with an isocratic mixture of acetonitrile and 10 mM phosphate buffer, pH 2.5 (40:60, v/v) as the mobile phase. The mobile phase was pumped at a flow rate of 0.5 ml/min. For sample analysis 200 μl of acetonitrile containing internal standard (flurbiprofen) was added to 100 μl of plasma. After centrifugation 10 mM phosphate buffer, pH 7.4 (200 μl) was added to the tube, then vortexed and centrifuged. The supernatant (20 μl) was injected onto the HPLC column. The chromatographic separation was monitored by a fluorescence detector at an emission wavelength of 350 nm with an excitation wavelength of 225 nm. The direct precipitation of plasma protein using acetonitrile gave a good recovery for both naproxen and the internal standard. The detection limit was 0.1 μg/ml for naproxen. The intra- and inter-assay coefficients of variation at different concentrations evaluated were less than 10%.