Sensitive and Stereospecific High-Performance Liquid Chromatographic Method for Flurbiprofen in Human Plasma.

Flurbiprofen (FLU), a chiral 2-arylpropionic acid (2-APA) nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), is used in its racemic form. Enantiomers are optically active compounds with one or more chiral centers and have identical physicochemical properties except the rotation of plane polarized light. The enantiomers of 2-APAs, however, may exert different pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic effects. Several methods have been reported for the detection of racemic FLU in plasma, i.e., thin-layer chromatography, gas chromatography, and high-performance liquid chromatography. The method involves extraction of drug and ibuprofen (internal standard, IS) with a mixture of isooctane and 2-propanol. The described stereoselective, specific, HPLC method provides a simple, sensitive, and reliable approach for the determination of the enantiomers of FLU in plasma after clinical doses, which is applicable for routine analysis.