Quantitative Analysis of Terbutaline (Bricanyl®) in Human Plasma with Liquid Chromatography and Electrochemical Detection Using On-Line Enrichment

Abstract

Terbutaline is a selective .beta.2-receptor agonist, widely used in the treatment of asthma. A liquid chromatographic method with electrochemical detection (LC-EC) was developed for the quantitative analysis of terbutaline in the range 5-50 pmol ml-1 of human plasma. Terbutaline is isolated from 2 ml of plasma on an ion-exchange column and the eluate is concentrated on a hydrophobic precolumn on-line in the chromatographic system. The precolumn is then back-flushed for further separation onto a hydrophobic analytical column. The mobile phase is a methanol-aqueous buffer to which sodium prechlorate is added to achieve resolution from interfering peaks. A glassy carbon electrode is used for detection. Comparison has been made with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) to examine the accuracy of the method.