Weak cation-exchange restricted-access material for on-line purification of basic drugs in plasma

A methylcellulose-immobilized weak cation-exchange (MC-WCX) silica-based restricted-access material (RAM) was developed. The MC-WCX consists of an MC outer surface and 2-carboxyethyl phase internal surface, allowing for direct analysis of basic drugs in plasma. The retention properties of the MC-WCX were evaluated for sulpiride, quinidine, ranitidine, and desipramine. The MC-WCX retained model drugs by cation-exchange, and retained drugs were eluted with the mobile phase containing small amount of acids or salts compared with the MC strong cation-exchanger (MC-SCX). These results indicated the ease of use of the MC-WCX solid-phase extraction (SPE) column when coupled to a reversed-phase analytical column in column-switching high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and various detection principals. Further direct analysis of model drugs in plasma using the MC-WCX SPE column in a column-switching HPLC system successfully performed with sufficient recovery. It is concluded that the MC-WCX is useful for the analysis of basic drugs in plasma.