Determination of esmolol and metabolite enantiomers within human plasma using chiral column chromatography.

A high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method has been developed for the simultaneous determination of each of esmolol's enantiomers at the 25-1000 ng/ml concentrations observed in human plasma upon intravenous administration of this rapidly metabolized beta-adrenergic receptor blocking agent. Alternatively, a high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) UV detection method has been developed for the simultaneous determination of each of the enantiomers for esmolol's metabolite which, in turn, achieve 2.5-50 microg/ml concentrations in human plasma.