Rapid high Performance liquid Chromatography- Tandem mass Spectrometry Method For Quantitation of Milnacepran in Human Plasma

A highly sensitive, rapid and specific liquid chromatography–mass spectrometric (LC-MS/MS) method for the determination of milnacepran in human plasma using anastrazole as the internal standard (I.S.) was developed and validated. The sample work-up procedure involved a liquid–liquid extraction of the compounds. The chromatographic separation was performed on a Thermo Hypersil–Hypurity C18 column (50 × 4.6 mm, 5 μm). Mass spectrometric data were acquired in MRM monitoring of the [M + H] + ions at 246.80 > 100.10 and 294.10 > 224.90 for milnacipran and anastrazole, respectively. The method was validated in the concentration range of 2–1,000 ng mL−1 (r2 > 0.99). The method was validated and found suitable to high-throughput analysis of human plasma samples for application in pharmacokinetic and bioavailability/bioequivalance studies.