A high-performance liquid chromatographic method for the measurement of the iron chelator 1, 2-dimethyl-3-hydroxypyridin-4-one in human plasma

1,2-Dimethyl-3-hydroxypyridin-4-one (CP020 or L1) is a novel oral iron chelator that has proved to be effective in animals and humans. A rapid, accurate, and sensitive high-performance liquid chromatography method is described for measuring L1 in human plasma using a Hypercarb 7 μm column and monitoring the column eluent by ultraviolet absorption at 280 nm. CP020 and the internal standard (CP094) were extracted into dichloromethane (2x5 ml) from plasma at neutral pH [0.25 ml of plasma + 0.75 ml of 60 m M 3-(N-morpholino)propanesulfonic acid buffer, pH 7.4]. The method proved to be linear (r 2 = 0.998) in the clinical range of 0.5–50 μg/ml when 0.25 ml of plasma was used, with the coefficient of variation less than 10% even at the lower concentration range.