High-performance liquid chromatographic assay for fenoprofen in human plasma

A high-performance liquid chromatographic method is described for the quantitation of fenoprofen, dl-2-(3-phenoxyphenyl)-propionic acid, in human plasma. The proteins in plasma were precipitated by the addition of hydrochloric acid. Fenoprofen and the internal standard, dl-2-(4-phenoxyphenyl)valeric acid, were extracted into butyl chloride and then back-extracted into sodium hydroxide. The aqueous solution was injected onto a reversed-phase alkylphenyl column, and the compounds were eluted using a mobile phase of acetonitrile-water-acetic acid (50:50:2 v/v/v). At a flow rate of 1 ml/min, the retention times of fenoprofen and the internal standard were 8 and 12 min, respectively. The absorbance was monitored at 272 nm. The method requires 1.0 ml of plasma and is sensitive to 0.5 microgram/ml. This procedure has been used for routine assay of multiple samples from bioavailability and compliance studies.