Analyses of biguanides and related compounds in biological and environmental samples by HPLC

Abstract

Biguanides are nitrogen containing compounds and classified as antidiabetic (metformin, phenformin, buformin), antimalarial (proguanil, cycloproguanil, 4-chlorophenyl biguanide), and antimicrobial (chlorhexidine, polyhexamethylene biguanide) drugs. These biguanides provide safe medication and are used worldwide. Therefore, various effective analytical procedures for quality control and pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetic studies have been developed. However, HPLC method is a technique in great demand due to its attractive features and availability of the stationary and mobile phases. This article highlights the role of HPLC for the determination of biguanides and related compounds in different biological and environment samples. The sample preparation is a bottleneck of analytical procedure, which involves the isolation or extraction of the desired analytes from the sample matrix as these are present at trace level. The application of various solid phase extraction (SPE) materials used for the sample preparation of biguanides are also discussed herein.