Stereoselective formation of glucuronides in metabolism of hexobarbital enantiomers in vivo: isolation and quantitation of glucuronides in rabbit urine.

An improved column-chromatographic method was described for isolation and purification on preparative scale of a glucuronide from urine of rabbits administered (RS)-hexobarbital. The analytically pure preparation obtained was found to be a mixture of two glucuronides of diastereomeric 3'-hydroxyhexobarbitals. Rates of hydrolysis of the glucuronides were dependent on the enzyme preparations used as well as on the configuration of the substrate. For quantitative determination, the glucuronides were hydrolyzed completely by beta-glucuronidases from either Escherichia coli or abalone entrails under the conditions used. In vivo studies on the metabolism of (R)-(-)- and (S)-(+)-hexobarbital in the rabbit showed that the glucuronides excreted in 24-hr urine accounted for about 30% of the dose of each enantiomer, and that conjugation of the hydroxy isomers with glucuronic acid was so stereoselective that the isomers with S-configuration at the 3'-position were preferentially conjugated. There were almost no differences in the urinary metabolite profile between normal an PB-treated rabbits; however, a noticeable change was observed in recovery of unchanged (S)-hexobarbital after phenobarbital treatment.