LC-MS-based method for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of the novel PPARγ agonist KR-62980

A sensitive liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) method was developed for a novel peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ) agonist, KR-62980, in rat plasma. It involves liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) followed by HPLC separation and electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry. The linear ranges of the assay were 0.01-10 μg/mL with a correlation coefficient (R (2)) greater than 0.99 and the lower limit of quantification was 0.01 μg/mL. The average recovery was 90.1 and 98.4% from rat plasma for KR-62980 and imipramine, respectively. The coefficients of variation of intra- and inter-assay were 1.2-10.6% and the relative error was 0.8-13.2%. The method was validated and successfully applied to the pharmacokinetic study of KR-62980 in rat.