Determination of 2-hydroxy-4-methoxybenzophenone in mice serum and human plasma by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography enhanced by chemometrics

Abstract

This work presents the development of a strategy for the quantitation of 2-hydroxy-4-methoxybenzophenone (BP-3) in mice serum and human plasma. The instrumental determination only lasts 2 min and is based on ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) coupled to second-order data modeling with multivariate curve resolution-alternating least-squares (MCR-ALS). Coelution of BP-3 with the matrix components was resolved by exploiting the second-order advantage of multi-way calibration. The validation study led to the following results: linear range from 0.002 to 1.509 μg mL−1; in the case of mice serum samples: recoveries from 95 to 98%, with intra and inter day precision of 2.7 and 5.7, respectively; and in the case of human plasma samples: recoveries from 94 to 99% with intra and inter day precision of 2.3 and 4.6%, respectively. Special emphasis was put on the determination of the LOD and LOQ by utilizing several approaches for their calculation and making focus on the experimental verification of the figures provided by the multivariate methodology. Following the mentioned approach, the LOD and LOQ of the method were estimated as 0.66 and 2.00 ng mL−1, respectively. Eventually, the method was successfully applied to the determination of BP-3 in mice serum.