Enantioselective determination of metoprolol and its metabolites in human urine high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection (HPLC-FLD) and tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS)

A sensitive, stereoselective assay using solid phase extraction and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with fluorescence detection (FLD) was developed and validated for the analysis of enantiomers of metoprolol and its metabolites (α-hydroxymetoprolol, O-desmethylmetoprolol). Chiral separation was achieved using a CHIRALCEL OD-RH column, packed with cellulose tris-(3,5-dimethylphenyl-carbamate) stationary phase, employing a mobile phase composed by a mixture of 0.2% diethylamine in water and acetonitrile in gradient elution mode. Linear calibration curves were obtained over the range of 0.025-2.0μg/mL (R² >0.994) in urine for both enantiomers of metoprolol and its metabolites with quantitation limit of 0.025μg/mL. Intra and inter-day precision and accuracy were below 15% for both metoprolol and metabolites enantiomers. The recovery of enantiomer of metoprolol and its metabolite was greater than 68.0%, utilizing a SPE procedure. The method was tested with urine quality control samples and human urine fractions after administration of 50mg rac-metoprolol.