A supercritical fluid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry method for the simultaneous quantification of metformin and gliclazide in human plasma

Present study reports the development and validation of a simultaneous estimation of metformin and gliclazide in human plasma using supercritical fluid chromatography followed by tandem mass spectrometry. Acetonitrile:water (80:20) mixture was used as a mobile phase along with liquid CO(2) in supercritical fluid chromatography and phenformin as an internal standard. The modified plasma samples were analyzed by electro-spray ionization method in selective reaction monitoring mode in tandem mass spectrometry. Supercritical fluid chromatographic separation was performed using nucleosil C(18) containing column as a stationary phase. The separated products were identified by characteristic peaks and specific fragments peaks in tandem mass spectrometry as m/z 130 to 86 for metformin, m/z 324 to 110 for gliclazide and m/z 206 to 105 for phenformin. The present method was found linear in the concentration ranges of 6.0-3550 ng/ml and 7.5-7500 ng/ml for metformin and gliclazide, respectively. Pharmacokinetic study was performed after an oral administration of dispersible tablets containing 500 mg of metformin and 80 mg of gliclazide using same techniques.