Simultaneous quantification of trantinterol and its metabolites in human urine by ultra performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

A rapid, selective and sensitive ultra performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) method was developed to simultaneously determine trantinterol and its major metabolites in human urine. Waters Oasis HLB C18 solid phase extraction cartridges were used in the urine sample preparation. The separation was carried out on an ACQUITY UPLC™ BEH C18 column with methanol-0.2% formic acid (30:70, v/v) as the mobile phase at a flow rate of 0.25 mL/min. The detection was performed on a triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometer by multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode via electrospray ionization (ESI) source. The linear calibration curves for trantinterol, arylhydroxylamine trantinterol (N-OH-trantinterol), the tert-butyl hydroxylated trantinterol (tert-OH-trantinterol) and the 1-carbonyl trantinterol (trantinterol-COOH) were obtained in the concentration range of 0.414-207, 0.578-385, 0.168-84.0, and 0.954-477 ng/mL, respectively. The linear correlation coefficients were greater than 0.990. The intra and inter-day precision (relative standard deviation, RSD) values were less than 12% and the accuracy (relative error, RE) was 6.7-11%. The method herein described was superior to previous methods in sample throughput and sensitivity and successfully applied to the human excretion study.