CHARACTERIZATION OF N-BENZYLCARBAZOLE AND ITS METABOLITES FROM MICROSOMAL MIXTURES BY TANDEM MASS-SPECTROMETRY

The metabolism of N-benzylcarbazole (NBC) was studied in vitro using h amster hepatic microsomes to establish whether the corresponding amide is formed. This work was carried out in order to see if the extremely low pak(a) characteristic of such a benzylic amine would allow the fo rmation of the carbonyl derivative. No amide formation was observed. H owever, a number of metabolic products were detected using HPLC, inclu ding the oxidative debenzylation products, namely carbazole and benzal dehyde, together with 2 phenolic isomers of NBC. These products were t entatively characterized by their UV spectra using a rapiscam UV detec tor connected to HPLC equipment. The structural characterization of th ese 4 metabolites, together with unchanged substrate, was carried out using desorption electron impact tandem mass spectrometry (DEI-MS/MS) on hybrid instrument with EBQ(1)Q(2) configuration.