5-Fluorouracil - Characteristics and Analytical Determination

5-fluorouracil (5-FU or f5U) is a pyrimidine analogue, and is used as an antineoplastic drug. Working with antineoplastic drugs constitutes a health hazard for the people who handle them, mainly because of their mutagenicity, teratogenicity and carcinogenicity. This is the reason, why the determination of antineoplastic drugs in wipe samples obtained from the hospital departments, where antineoplastic drugs are prepared or administered is growing in importance. 5-fluorouracil has some unusual pharmacological characteristics, which make it suitable for therapeutic drug monitoring. Thus, its determination in plasma and other body fluids or in urine is important, too. Like other drugs, 5-fluorouracil is also determined in formulations during quality control or stability studies.