Simultaneous determination of ramipril, ramiprilat and telmisartan in human plasma using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry

A rapid and sensitive liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry method has been developed and validated for the simultaneous determination of ramipril, ramiprilat and telmisartan in human plasma. The solid-phase extraction technique was used for the extraction of ramipril, ramiprilat and telmisartan from human plasma. Trandolaprilat and hydrochlorothiazide were used as the internal standards (ISs). Chromatography was performed on a Hypurity C18, 5 mu m, 50 mm x 4.6 mm column, with the mobile phase consisting of ammonium acetate and acetonitrile (in a 20:80 ratio), followed by detection using mass spectrometry. The method involves a simple reversed isocratic chromatography condition and mass spectrometry detection, which enables detection at sub-nanogram levels. The method was validated and the lower limit of quantification for ramipril, ramiprilat and telmisartan was found to be 0.1 ng mL(-1), 0.1 ng mL(-1) and 2 ng mL(-1), respectively. The mean recovery for ramipril, ramiprilat and telmisartan ranged from 90.1 to 104.1%. This method increased the sensitivity and selectivity: resulting in high-throughput analysis of ramipril, ramiprilat and telmisartan using two different ISs in a single experiment for bioequivalence studies, with a chromatographic run time of 1.5 min only. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.