Determination of moxonidine in human plasma by liquid chromatography-electrospray ionisation-mass spectrometry

A sensitive and specific liquid chromatography-electrospray ionisation-mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS) method has been developed and validated for the identification and quantification of moxonidine in human plasma. After the addition of clonidine-HCl, the internal standard (IS) and sodium hydrogen carbonate, plasma samples were extracted using 5 mL ethyl acetate. The compounds were separated on a Lichrospher ODS (5 microm, 250 mm x 4.6 mm) column using an elution system of 10 mmol/L ammonium acetate buffer-methanol (20:80 v/v) as the mobile phase. Analytes were determined using electrospary ionization in a single quadrupole mass spectrometer. LC-ESI-MS was performed in the selected-ion monitoring (SIM) mode using target ions at m/z: 242.2 for moxonidine and m/z: 230.1 for the IS. The method has shown to be sensitive and specific by testing six different blank plasma batches. Linearity was established for the range of concentrations 0.01976-9.88 ng/mL with a coefficient of correlation (r) of 0.9999. The lower limit of quantification (LOQ) was identifiable and reproducible at 0.01976 ng/mL. The method has been successfully applied to study the pharmacokinetics of moxonidine in healthy male Chinese volunteers.