Evaluation of ultra-performance liquid chromatography in the bioanalysis of small molecule drug candidates in plasma.

Ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) combined with mass spectrometric detection (MS) is used successfully in the bioanalysis of small molecule drug candidates in plasma. UPLC-MS is shown to increase sample throughput by reducing run times over 3-fold, without compromising analytical sensitivity or analyte resolution. The technique is demonstrated to be practical and robust on a commercially available ultra-high pressure system when injecting extracts of plasma and has also shown to be a technique that can be used effectively on a conventional high-performance liquid chromatography system fitted with short columns (<or=30 mm in length).