High performance liquid chromatographic method for the determination of cetirizine and ambroxol in human plasma and urine—A boxcar approach

A column switching high performance liquid chromatographic method with estimable sensitivity and accuracy was developed for the determination of cetirizine and ambroxol in human plasma using nebivolol as the internal standard. Plasma samples were prepared by liquid–liquid extraction in methylene chloride and a mixture of diethylether (80:20, v/v). The extracted samples were injected into a multifunctional clean-up column SupelcosilTM LCABZ (50 mm × 4.6 mm, 5 μm particle size) using mobile phase 1 comprising acetonitrile–phosphate buffer (pH 3.5; 20 mM) (20:80, v/v). The eluate of cetirizine and ambroxol were separated to an analytical Kromasil C8 micro bore column (50 mm × 0.3 mm, 5 μm particle size) via a column switching device. A Kromasil C18 analytical column (250 mm × 2.1 mm, 5 μm particle size) was used as a separation column. Mobile phase 2 consisting acetonitrile–triethylamine (0.5%) in phosphate buffer (pH 3.5; 20 mM) (55:45, v/v) was used for the compound elution. The eluents were detected at 230 nm with photodiode array detector. An aliquot of 150 μl of plasma sample was introduced into the pretreatment column via the auto sampler using mobile phase 1 at a flow rate of 0.5 ml/min, column switching valve being positioned at A. The pretreatment column retained cetirizine, ambroxol and nebivolol (IS) in the column leaving the residual proteins of plasma eluted in void volume and drained out. The switching valve was shifted to position B at 7.5 min. Cetirizine, ambroxol and IS were eluted from the pretreatment column between 7. 5 and 11.5 min and introduced to the concentration column. Finally, cetirizine, ambroxol and IS were introduced to the separation column by switching valve using mobile phase 2 at a flow rate of 0.4 ml/min. During the analysis the pretreatment column was washed for the next analysis and resume to the position A. The total run time was 25 min for a sample. The procedure was repeated for urine analysis also. The method was linear from 2 to 450 ng/ml and 7–300 ng/ml for cetirizine and ambroxol respectively in plasma and 1–500 ng/ml and 5–400 ng/ml, respectively for cetirizine and ambroxol in urine. Intra-day and inter-day precision of cetirizine and ambroxol was below 15% in terms of coefficient of variation and accuracy of cetirizine and ambroxol was ranged from 94 to 101.6% and 91.1 to 100.2%, respectively. The method demonstrated high sensitivity and selectivity and therefore, applied to evaluate pharmacokinetics of cetirizine and ambroxol in healthy human volunteer after a single oral administration. Urine samples obtained from healthy human volunteers and clinical subjects with renal impairment have also been analyzed by the method to compare the elimination pattern. The method was precise and accurate for the estimation of cetirizine and ambroxol both in blood and in urine.