Application of a sensitive liquid chromatographic/tandem mass spectrometric method to a pharmacokinetic study of allylestrenol in healthy Chinese female volunteers

A sensitive, specific and rapid liquid chromatographic/tandem mass spectrometric (LC/MS/MS) assay for the determination of allylestrenol in human plasma was established. Plasma samples were extracted by tert-butyl ether and separated by LC/MS/MS using a Phenomenex Curosil-PFP column (250 mm × 4.6 mm ID, dp 5 μm) with a mobile phase of methanol–water (95:5, v/v). The analytes were monitored with atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) by selected reaction monitoring (SRM) mode. The linear calibration curves covered a concentration range of 0.04–20.0 ng/mL with lower limit of quantification (LLOQ) at 0.04 ng/mL. The mean extraction recovery of allylestrenol was greater than 81.8%. The intra- and inter-day precisions were less than 1.3% and 3.1% respectively, determined from quality control (QC) samples of three representative concentrations. The method has been successfully applied to determining the plasma concentration of allylestrenol and a clinical pharmacokinetics study in healthy Chinese female volunteers.