A sensitive and selective liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method
(LC-MS/MS) for the determination of tolbutamide in rabbit plasma was developed and validated over the
concentration range of 4-1000 ng mL-1. After addition of bupivacaine as internal standard (IS), a simplified
protein precipitation with acetonitrile was employed for the sample preparation. Chromatographic
separation was performed by an Agilent Zorbax SB-C18 column (150 mmu2.1 mm, 3.5 um). The mobile
phase was acetonitrile-1% formic acid in water (50:50 v/v) delivered at a flow rate of 0.3 mL min-1. The
MS data acquisition was accomplished by multiple reactions monitoring (MRM) mode with positive electrospray
ionization (ESI) interface. The lower limit of quantification (LLOQ) was 4 ng mL-1. For interday
and intra-day tests, the precision (RSD) for the entire validation was less than 10%, and the accuracy
was within the 94.7% to 105.6% range. The validated method is successfully used to analyze the drug in
samples of rabbit plasma for pharmacokinetic study.Colegio de Farmacéuticos de la Provincia de Buenos Aire
