Validated bioanalytical method for the quantification of RGB-286638, a novel multi-targeted protein kinase inhibitor, in human plasma and urine by liquid chromatography/tandem triple-quadrupole mass spectrometry

A rapid and sensitive liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method has been developed and validated for the quantitative determination of RBG-286638, a novel multi-targeted protein kinase inhibitor, in 200 mu l aliquots of human potassium EDTA plasma with deuterated RGB-286638 as internal standard. The sample extraction and cleaning-up involved a simple liquid-liquid extraction with 100 mu l aliquots of acetonitrile and 1 ml aliquots of n-butylchloride. Urine was accurately 5- and 10-fold diluted in blank plasma prior to extraction. Chromatographic separations were achieved on a reversed phase C-18 column eluted at a flow-rate of 0.250 ml/min on a gradient of 0.2 mM ammonium formate and acetonitrile both acidified with 0.1% formic acid. The overall cycle time of the method was 7 min, with RGB-286638 eluting at 1.9 min. The multiple reaction monitoring transitions were set at 546 > 402 (m/z), and 549 > 402 (m/z) for RGB-286638 and the internal standard, respectively. The calibration curves were linear over the range of 2.00 to 1000 ng/ml with the lower limit of quantitation validated at 2.00 ng/ml. The within-run and between-run precisions were within 7.90%, while the accuracy ranged from 92.2% to 99.7%. The method was successfully applied to samples derived from a clinical study. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.