RP-HPLC method for the determination of acipimox in human plasma

A simple and specific reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) method with UV detection has been developed to determine acipimox in human plasma. The analyte was separated from plasma using liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) with tert-butyl methyl ether. Chromatographic separation has been performed isocratically using a Nucleosil C18, 25 cm × 4.6 mm, 5 μm column with 10 mM phosphate buffer (adjusted to pH 4 with triethyl amine) and methanol in the ratio of 50:50 v/v. Ultraviolet detection of drug was carried out at 275 nm. The method was linear over the concentration range of 0.1-30 μg/mL of acipimox (r2 = 0.998). The extraction recovery of acipimox in human plasma was more than 85%. The intra-day and inter-day precision were less than 4% (CV).