Simultaneous determination of ambroxol and salbutamol in human plasma by ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry and its application to a pharmacokinetic study.

A rapid, selective and sensitive liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry assay method was developed for simultaneous determination of ambroxol and salbutamol in human plasma using citalopram hydrobromide as internal standard (IS). The sample was alkalinized with ammonia water (33:67, v/v) and extracted by single liquid-liquid extraction with ethyl acetate. Separation was achieved on Waters Acquity UPLC BEH C18 column using a gradient program at a flow rate of 0.2 mL/min. Detection was performed using electrospray ionization in positive ion multiple reaction monitoring mode by monitoring the ion transitions m/z 378.9 → 263.6 (ambroxol), m/z 240.2 → 147.7 (salbutamol) and m/z 325.0 → 261.7 (IS). The total analytical run time was relatively short (3 min). Calibration curves were linear in the concentration range of 0.5-100.0 ng/mL for ambroxol and 0.2-20.0 ng/mL for salbutamol, with intra- and inter-run precision (relative standard deviation) <15% and accuracy (relative error) ranging from 97.7 to 112.1% for ambroxol and from 94.5 to 104.1% for salbutamol. The method was successfully applied in a clinical pharmacokinetic study of the compound ambroxol and salbutamol tablets.