Determination of zidovudine using anion exchange chromatography with integrated pulsed amperometric detection

A rapid and practical method for direct detection of zidovudine in high performance anion exchange chromatography (HPAEC) has been developed with integrated pulsed amperometric detection (IPAD). Dionex AS18 (250 mm × 2 mm) and AG18 (50 mm × 2 mm) columns and 11 mmol/L NaOH solution were used for separation. Multi-step potential waveform parameters were optimized to maximize the signal-to-noise ratio (S/N). Utilizing an optimized waveform, the repeatability (intra-day) precision and intermediate (inter-day) precision are obtained with relative standard deviation (RSD) of 1.88, 2.27, respectively. The limit of quantification (LOQ) and limit of detection (LOD) were found to be 9.70, 3.0 ng/mL, respectively, with correlation coefficients of 0.9992 over concentration range 0.01–10 μg/mL. The present method was successfully applied to the determination of zidovudine in human plasma. The recoveries of plasma sample spiked by 0.7 μg/mL, 2.7 μg/mL obtained were 95.3–101.5%, with relative standard deviation (RSD) of 2.54%, 2.21%, respectively.