Simultaneous determination of the novel thiosemicarbazone anti-cancer agent, Bp4eT, and its main phase I metabolites in plasma: application to a pilot pharmacokinetic study in rats.

Novel thiosemicarbazone metal chelators are extensively studied anti-cancer agents with marked and selective activity against a wide variety of cancer cells, as well as human tumor xenografts in mice. This study describes the first validated LC-MS/MS method for the simultaneous quantification of 2-benzoylpyridine 4-ethyl-3-thiosemicarbazone (Bp4eT) and its main metabolites (E/Z isomers of the semicarbazone structure, M1-E and M1-Z, and the amidrazone metabolite, M2) in plasma. Separation was achieved using a C18 column with ammonium formate/acetonitrile mixture as the mobile phase.