Determination of cyclophosphamide and ifosphamide in urine at trace levelsby gas chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry

A specific and sensitive method based on gas chromatography/tandem mass spe ctrometry with on-column injection was developed to quantify simultaneously cyclophosphamide and ifosphamide in urine by using trophosphamide as an in ternal standard. The urine samples were extracted with diethyl ether and de rivatization was performed with heptafluorobutyric anhydride, The detection limits of cyclophosphamide and ifosphamide in urine samples were 0.1 and 0 .5 ng ml(-1), respectively, with a signal-to-noise ratio of 3:1. The sensit ivity, the specificity and the low cost of the instrumentation involved mak e this method suitable for economical analysis on a large scale, such as fo r the biological monitoring of occupational exposure to cyclophosphamide an d ifosphamide in production plants and in hospitals during their pharmacolo gical use. Copyright (C) 1999 John Whey & Sons, Ltd.