Evaluation of the stereoselective metabolism of the chiral analgesic drug etodolac by high-performance liquid chromatography.

The enantiomers of the racemic analgesic drug etodolac have been resolved by fractional crystallization of the diastereomeric salts with optically active 1-phenylethylamine. A high-performance liquid chromatographic method to determine racemic etodolac (assay I) and its major metabolites (assay II) in urine using a conventional reverse-phase column is described. The determination of the enantiomeric ratios of etodolac and the two metabolites 7-hydroxyetodolac and 8-(1'-hydroxyethyl)etodolac was achieved using different protein-bonded chiral stationary phases. The urinary data for five volunteers are presented and show a marked stereoselectivity of the metabolism of etodolac in humans.