High-performance liquid chromatographic determination of levodropropizine in human plasma with fluorometric detection

The present paper describes a new high-performance liquid chromatographic method with fluorescence detection for the analysis of levodropropizine [S-(-)-3-(4-phenylpiperazin-1-yl)-propane-1,2-diol] (Levotuss), an anti-tussive drug, in human serum and plasma. A reversed-phase separation of levodropropizine was coupled with detection of the native fluorescence of the molecule, using excitation and emission wavelengths of 240 nm and 350 nm respectively. The analytical column was packed with spherical 5 microns poly(styrene-divinylbenzene) particles and the mobile phase was 0.1 M NaH2PO4 pH 3-methanol (70:30, v/v), containing 0.5% (v/v) tetrahydrofuran. For quantitation, p-methoxylevodropropizine was used as the internal standard. Samples of 200 microliters of either serum or plasma were mixed with 200 microliters of 0.1 M Na2HPO4 pH 8.9 and extracted with 5 ml of chloroform-2-propanol (9:1, v/v). The dried residue from the organic extract was redissolved with distilled water and directly injected into the chromatograph. The limit of detection for levodropropizine, in biological matrix, was about 1-2 ng/ml, at a signal-to-noise ratio of 3. The linearity was satisfactory over a range of concentrations from 3 to 1000 ng/ml (r2 = 0.99910); within-day precision tested in the range 5-100 ng/ml as well as day-to-day reproducibility proved acceptable, with relative standard deviations better than 1% in most cases. Interferences from as many as 91 therapeutic or illicit drugs were excluded.