A new, validated HPLC‐MS/MS method for the simultaneous determination of the anti‐cancer agent capecitabine and its metabolites: 5′‐deoxy‐5‐fluorocytidine, 5′‐deoxy‐5‐fluorouridine, 5‐fluorouracil and 5‐fluorodihydrouracil, in human plasma

A rapid and selective liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometric method was developed for the simultaneous determination of capecitabine and its metabolites 5′‐deoxy‐5‐fluorocytidine (5′‐DFCR), 5′‐deoxy‐5‐fluorouracil (5′‐DFUR), 5‐fluorouracil (5‐FU) and dihydro‐5‐fluorouracil (FUH 2 ) in human plasma. A 200 μL human plasma aliquot was spiked with a mixture of internal standards fludarabine and 5‐chlorouracil. A single‐step protein precipitation method was employed using 10% (v/v) trichloroacetic acid in water to separate analytes from bio‐matrices. Volumes of 20 μL of the supernatant were directly injected onto the HPLC system. Separation was achieved on a 30 × 2.1 mm Hypercarb (porous graphitic carbon) column using a gradient by mixing 10 m m ammonium acetate and acetonitrile–2‐propanol–tetrahydrofuran (1 : 3 : 2.25, v/v/v). The detection was performed using a Finnigan TSQ Quantum Ultra equipped with the electrospray ion source operated in positive and negative mode. The assay quantifies a range from 10 to 1000 ng/mL for capecitabine, from 10 to 5000 ng/mL for 5′‐DFCR and 5′‐DFUR, and from 50 to 5000 ng/mL for 5‐FU and FUH 2 using a plasma sample of 200 μL. Correlation coefficients ( r 2 ) of the calibration curves in human plasma were better than 0.99 for all compounds. At all concentration levels, deviations of measured concentrations from nominal concentration were between −4.41 and 3.65% with CV values less than 12.0% for capecitabine, between −7.00 and 6.59% with CV values less than 13.0 for 5′‐DFUR, between −3.25 and 4.11% with CV values less than 9.34% for 5′‐DFCR, between −5.54 and 5.91% with CV values less than 9.69% for 5‐FU and between −4.26 and 6.86% with CV values less than 14.9% for FUH 2 . The described method was successfully applied for the evaluation of the pharmacokinetic profile of capecitabine and its metabolites in plasma of treated cancer patients. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.