Determination of thalidomide concentration in human plasma by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.

A rapid, sensitive and specific analytical method based on high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) has been developed for the determination of thalidomide concentration in human plasma. The analyte and internal standard were extracted by liquid-liquid extraction with ether-dichloromethane (3:2, v/v) and separated on a TC-C(18) column using methanol-10 mM ammonium acetate-formic acid (60:40:0.04, v/v/v) as the mobile phase at a flow rate of 0.