Determination of bevantolol in human plasma using liquid chromatography–electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry and its application to a bioequivalence study

A liquid chromatography–electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry method was established and validated for the determination of bevantolol in human plasma using propranolol as the internal standard. The optimal chromatographic behavior of bevantolol and propranolol was achieved on a Welch Ultimate XB-C18 column (5 μm, 150 mm × 2.1 mm, Maryland, USA) with a mobile phase of acetonitrile–water (40:60, v/v) containing 10 mM ammonium acetate and 0.1% formic acid. The mass spectrometer was operated in selected reaction monitoring mode using the transition m/z 346.1 > 165.1 for bevantolol and m/z 260.3 > 116.1 for propranolol. Sample preparation was carried out through protein precipitation with acetonitrile. The calibration curves were linear over the range of 5.00–1000 ng/ml. The intra- and inter-day precisions were less than 6.7% and 6.6%, respectively. This method was successfully applied to the bioequivalence study of two kinds of bevantolol hydrochloride tablets in 24 Chinese male volunteers in fasting and postprandial experiment.