Simultaneous determination of antimalarial agents by LC-MS/MS and its application to evaluation of fixed-dose tablets

Abstract

We developed and validated a liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method to quantify the antimalarials artesunate (ARS) and mefloquine (MFQ) in fixed-dose tablets. The detection was performed by a triple-quadrupole mass spectrometer in multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) in positive ion mode via electrospray ionization. Chromatographic separation was achieved with an XBridge C18 column (50 × 2.1 mm, 5 μm), using isocratic elution (350 μL min-1) of water/acetonitrile/methanol (30:35:35, v/v/v) containing 0.1% formic acid. The method was validated according to the International Conference of Harmonization (ICH) guidelines. The calibration curves obtained for ARS (400 to 600 ng mL-1) and MFQ (800 to 1200 ng mL-1) showed good linearity (r2 > 0.99), precision (relative standard deviation (RSD): ARS < 2.0%; MFQ < 1.9%), and accuracy (recoveries: ARS, 102.4-103.4%; MFQ, 97.4-101.6%), and were stable for 24 h at 8 °C. The method was successfully applied to commercial tablets, and recoveries of 98.7 ± 4.7% (ARS) and 105.6 ± 3.13% (MFQ). The method developed is a reliable alternative for public quality inspection control with the advantage of tandem mass specificity and speed.