Rapid and sensitive analysis of diclofenac in human plasma by GC/SIM/MS

Abstract

An analytical method for the determination of diclofenac with tolfenamic acid as the internal standard was developed and validated in human plasma by capillary gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS). After the addition of the internal standard, the compounds were extracted from plasma at acidic pH into diethylether, which was then evaporated to dryness. The compounds were derivatized with pentafluoropropionic anhydride (PFPA) and a mixture (1000:2:3, v/w/w) of N-methyl-N-trimethylsilyltrifluoroacetamide (MSTFA), ammonium iodide (NPH4I). and dithioerythritol (DTE). They were determined by GC/MS at m/z 349 (a molecular ion) for diclofenac and mit 270 (a base ion) for tolfenamic acid. The recovery of this procedure was 97.8 %, and the linearity for calibration was 0.9907 as the coefficient factor. The detection and quantitation limits were 0.1 and 0.5 ng/mL, respectively.