Simultaneous quantitation of buspirone and 1-(2-pyrimidinyl)piperazine in human plasma and urine by capillary gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

Buspirone and a buspirone metabolite, 1-(2-pyrimidinyl)piperazine (1-PP), are extracted from matrix using C18 extraction columns. The metabolite and its internal standard (d4-1-PP) are derivatized with pentafluorobenzoyl chloride to the corresponding amides. The 1-PP derivatives, buspirone and the buspirone internal standard (5-fluorobuspirone) are co-chromatographed. Chromatography and detection are performed using capillary gas chromatography with a fused-silica column and selected-ion monitoring-mass spectrometry. Linear range of the standard curves in plasma is 0.1-14 ng/ml for buspirone and 0.2-25 ng/ml for 1-PP with lower limits of quantitation of 0.1 and 0.2 ng/ml, respectively. In urine the linear range of the standard curves is 0.2-14 ng/ml for buspirone and 8-500 ng/ml for 1-PP with lower limits of quantitation of 0.2 and 8.0 ng/ml, respectively. Intra-assay accuracies were within 14% for buspirone and 1-PP in plasma and urine. Intra-assay precision was within 12% for both compounds in both matrices.