Mass spectrometry-compatible ICH (International Conference on Harmonization) impurity analysis with a high-pH mobile phase advantages and pitfalls

Recent advances in bonding chemistry and novel silica synthesis have significantly extended the pH range of silica-based HPLC columns. This extended range now enables the analysis of water-soluble basic drugs at high pH without ion-pairing reagents, thus offering an alternative approach to assay or impurity analyses. This paper describes the many advantages and potential pitfalls of using high-pH mobile phases in the development of MS-friendly LC gradient impurity analytical methods for water-soluble basic drugs under International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) guidelines. Operating at high-pH provides excellent peak shapes and retention, and accentuates selectivity differences of structurally similar impurities and degradants. However, several problems unique to the use of high-pH mobile phases, such as column lifetime, robustness of pH adjustments, peak fronting, and on-column dimerization, were encountered. Each of these problems is discussed with its respective remedy.     

Comparison of different types of stationary phases for the analysis of soy isoflavones by HPLC

Nowadays, there are new technologies in high-performance liquid chromatography columns available enabling faster and more efficient separations. In this work, we compared three different types of columns for the analysis of main soy isoflavones. The evaluated columns were a conventional reverse phase particle column, a fused-core particle column, and a monolithic column. The comparison was in terms of chromatographic parameters such as resolution, asymmetry, number of theoretical plates, variability of retention time, and peak width. The lower column pressure was provided by the monolithic column, although lower chromatographic performance was achieved. Conventional and fused-core particle columns presented similar pressure. Results also indicate that direct transfer between particle and monolithic columns is not possible requiring adjustment of conditions and a different method optimization strategy. The best chromatographic performance and separation speed were observed for the fused-core particle column. Also, the effect of sample solvent on the separation and peak shape was evaluated and indicated that monolithic column is the most affected especially when using higher concentrations of acetonitrile or ethanol. Sample solvent that showed the lowest effect on the chromatographic performance of the columns was methanol. Overall evaluation of methanol and acetonitrile as mobile phase for the separation of isoflavones indicated higher chromatographic performance of acetonitrile, although methanol may be an attractive alternative. Using acetonitrile as mobile phase resulted in faster, higher resolution, narrower, and more symmetric peaks than methanol with all columns. It also generated the lower column pressure and flatter pressure profile due to mobile phase changes, and therefore, it presents a higher potential to be explored for the development of faster separation methods.     

Evaluation of a capillary gas chromatographic impurity test procedure for 4-hexylaniline

A capillary gas chromatographic test procedure for the detection and quantitation of impurities in the bulk intermediate, 4-hexylaniline, is evaluated and found to be accurate and precise. 4-Hexylaniline is dissolved in methanol and chromatographed isothermally at a temperature of 195 degrees C on a 60-m x 0.32-mm 85% polyethylene glycol-15% dimethylsilicone blend (DX-4) film column. A flame ionization detector is used, and the impurities in the parent compound are estimated from peak areas on a percent basis compared with the area of the parent peak in the chromatogram. Response factors are determined for the known impurities. Validation of this test method includes a recovery study of known impurity spiked samples fortified in the range of 0.1-1% (w/w). A repeatability study is performed, consisting of the analysis of two different synthetic batch lots of 4-hexylaniline analyzed over three experimental run days using two chromatographic columns of different manufacturing lots. These data and other aspects of this test procedure are discussed.     

Automatization for development of HPLC methods

Within the frame of inprocess analytics of the synthesis of pharmaceutical drugs a lot of HPLC methods are required for checking the quality of intermediates and drug substances. The methods have to be developed in terms of optimal selectivity and low limit of detection, minimum running time and chromatographic robustness. The goal was to shorten the method development process. Therefore, the screening of stationary phases was automated by means of switching modules equipped with 12 HPLC columns. Mobile phase and temperature could be optimized by using Drylab after evaluating chromatograms of gradient elutions performed automatically. The column switching module was applied for more than three dozens of substances, e.g. steroidal intermediates. Resolution (especially of isomeres), peak shape and number of peaks turned out to be the criteria for selection of the appropriate stationary phase. On the basis of the "best" column the composition of the "best" eluent was usually defined rapidly and with less effort. This approach leads to savings in manpower by more than one third. Overnight, impurity profiles of the intermediates were obtained yielding robust HPLC methods with high selectivity and minimized elution time.     

Continuous screening of analytical parameters facilitates efficient development of HPLC methods required for impurity profiling

Developing a robust analytical HPLC–UV method to characterize a drug candidate during an early stage of development is a major challenge when not all impurity standards are available. Here, we report our efforts to devise an efficient strategy for HPLC method development using continuous screening of analytical parameters without impurity standards. This strategy uses small incremental changes in the mobile phase pH and column temperature to trace each impurity on an overlay chromatogram. We tested this method using benzocaine as the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API), and compounds with similar structures to represent unknown impurities. Despite the coelution of peaks, results identified the number of impurities and indicated the starting point and parameter variables of the ensuing optimization step. Further, we demonstrated that the retention time of each peak as a function of mobile phase pH accounts for the apparent pK_a of known and unknown compounds in the presence of an organic solvent. This information is critically important to the selection of a robust pH range for HPLC methods.     

色谱柱选择对23种防腐剂测定结果的影响

以化妆品中23种防腐剂检测方法为例,探讨色谱柱选择对液相色谱方法测定结果的影响。参照《化妆品安全技术规范》甲基异噻唑啉酮等23个组分的检验方法,在2台不同的高效液相色谱仪上用15款不同品牌、型号的C₁₈色谱柱检测23种防腐剂,计算色谱峰的理论塔板数和分离度,对23种组分的分离效果进行分析,并应用USP (United States Pharmacopeia)数据库和PQRI (Product Quality Research Institute)数据库等2种等效色谱柱选择方法,对不同色谱柱的分离效果及等效性进行评价和预测。实验结果表明,15款色谱柱对23种防腐剂的分离效果差异显著,仅有2款色谱柱可以实现23种组分的完全分离。USP和PQRI数据库中2种等效色谱柱选择方法均无法预测出合适的等效色谱柱,对23种防腐剂的液相色谱分析参考价值均较小。色谱柱是影响23种防腐剂液相色谱法测定结果准确性的关键因素,有关实验室在应用该方法时,应考虑色谱柱选择性差异。化妆品基质复杂,如何在现有研究成果的基础上,开发色谱柱的筛选和预测评价体系,进而指导实际样品的分离是下一步研究的重点、难点。建议有关部门在制修订检测方法时,注重色谱柱的耐用性考察,完善系统适应性指标,细化色谱柱分类和增加描述信息,指导色谱柱的合理选择,从而规避由于色谱柱使用过程中选择依据缺失而导致测定结果不准确的风险。     

Improved computer algorithm for characterizing skewed chromatographic band broadening : II. Results and comparisons

A newly developed method using an exponentially modified Gaussian peak shape model produces results that are more precise and less subject to baseline noise than previous methods for characterizing chromatographic band broadening. The method requires only precisely measurable experimental peak parameters: peak retention time, peak height, peak area, and peak centroid (first moment). Accuracy and precision of the new method were compared with other digital approaches by using computer-synthesized peaks and experimental chromatographic data from many HPLC columns. The proposed method offers a reasonable compromise between accuracy, precision, and convenience. A rapid visual estimate of peak skew can be made by inspecting peak shape and referring to a calibration plot involving peak parameters. Peak variance and skew data from this method are also useful for finding column dispersion corrections in size-exclusion chromatography calibrations.     

Gold-silver-graphene hybrid nanosheets-based sensors for sensitive amperometric immunoassay of alpha-fetoprotein using nanogold-enclosed titania nanoparticles as labels

A stepwise method development strategy has been employed to develop a robust HPLC method to resolve several closely eluting structurally related impurities in an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API). This strategy consisted of automated column screening, optimization of the most critical chromatographic parameters, DryLab(?) modeling, and experimental verification of optimized separation conditions. DryLab(?) was used to predict an optimized gradient profile and separation temperature and these predictions were verified experimentally. A discussion of the accuracy of these predictions is presented. The robustness of the method was verified and the ability of DryLab(?) to predict, with reasonable accuracy, the outcome of such robustness studies was also examined. Once the robustness was established by the DryLab(?) predictions the remainder of the subsequent verification by experiment becomes a simple reiterative exercise. This study also demonstrates that factors such as column chemistry and critical chromatographic parameters can have a profound and oftentimes interrelated effect on the chromatographic separation of isomers, bromo analogs and other structurally very similar impurities. Therefore, it is critical to adopt a rational strategy, as demonstrated here, to evaluate the interplay of these factors, thereby greatly enhancing method development efficiency.     

Peak tailing and column radial heterogeneity in linear chromatography

The correlation between the radial heterogeneity of a column and the tailing of the elution profiles of chromatographic peaks was studied using a numerical method. A parabolic distribution of the linear flow velocity of the mobile phase and of the column efficiency in the radial direction were assumed. Moment analysis showed that peak tailing takes place under such experimental conditions and that it increases with increasing range of radial variations of the flow velocity and the column efficiency. It was also found that the higher the column efficiency, the larger the effect of a given degree of radial heterogeneity on the extent of peak tailing. Peak tailing behavior of columns having different efficiencies could be correlated with each other by an equation. Some characteristic features of tailing peaks were analyzed in connection with the column radial heterogeneity.     

Simple and Efficient Solution for Robustness Testing in Gradient Elution Liquid Chromatographic Methods

In this paper, an efficient way for robustness testing of gradient elution liquid chromatographic methods is proposed and tested on model mixtures comprising cilazapril, hydrochlorothiazide, and their degradation products, solutes that differ not only in polarities, but also in solubility and absorption characteristics. In general, the robustness could be tested with respect to various responses: resolution, retention factor, selectivity factor, change of detector response, etc. In chromatographic methods, the separation of the adjacent peaks is mandatory, and, consequently, the resolution is usually used as response. In isocratic elution methods, the resolution threshold depends on many factors, such as sizes of adjacent peaks, peak shapes, and asymmetry factor. At the same time, the situation is even more complex in gradient elution methods, because separation depends on a larger number of parameters, such as gradient profile, column geometry, mobile phase flow rate, column equilibration between gradient runs, etc. To ensure baseline separation, the authors propose application of separation criterion (s) as response and indirect modeling in the robustness evaluation. Examined response in this approach is represented by the difference between the retention time of the beginning of the peak and the retention time of the end of the previously eluting peak of the critical pair. Moreover, the proposed methodology included reusing experiments from the optimization phase to define a robust chromatographic region without increasing the number of experiments. It was shown that method robustness can be easily and efficiently evaluated by this methodology.     

Approaches to characterise chromatographic column performance based on global parameters accounting for peak broadening and skewness

Peak broadening and skewness are fundamental parameters in chromatography, since they affect the resolution capability of a chromatographic column. A common practice to characterise chromatographic columns is to estimate the efficiency and asymmetry factor for the peaks of one or more solutes eluted at selected experimental conditions. This has the drawback that the extra-column contributions to the peak variance and skewness make the peak shape parameters depend on the retention time. We propose and discuss here the use of several approaches that allow the estimation of global parameters (non-dependent on the retention time) to describe the column performance. The global parameters arise from different linear relationships that can be established between the peak variance, standard deviation, or half-widths with the retention time. Some of them describe exclusively the column contribution to the peak broadening, whereas others consider the extra-column effects also. The estimation of peak skewness was also possible for the approaches based on the half-widths. The proposed approaches were applied to the characterisation of different columns (Spherisorb, Zorbax SB, Zorbax Eclipse, Kromasil, Chromolith, X-Terra and Inertsil), using the chromatographic data obtained for several diuretics and basic drugs (β-blockers).     

Development and validation of a reversed-phase ultra-performance liquid chromatographic method for assay of lacidipine and related substances

A simple isocratic, RP-ultra-performance LC method was developed and validated for the determination of lacidipine, three process impurities formed during synthesis, and three degradation products present in drug substance and the drug product. An efficient chromatographic separation was achieved on an Acquity BEH C18 column using pH 4.5 ammonium acetate-acetic acid buffer-methanol (70 + 30, v/v) mobile phase. The monitoring wavelength was 240 nm, and the flow rate 0.25 mL/min. Forced degradation studies using acid, alkali, peroxide, water, heat, and light were conducted, and all impurities were separated. The method was validated successfully for specificity, precision, linearity, accuracy, LOD, LOQ, and robustness, according to International Conference on Harmonization guidelines. The linearity of the calibration curve for lacidipine and each impurity was found to be very good (r2 > 0.999). This method is shown to be suitable for analysis of lacidipine to evaluate the quality of drug substance and a drug product.     

Analyses of two azo dyes by high-performance liquid chromatography

Two structurally similar azo dyes, Direct Blue No. 6 and Direct Blue No. 15, are analyzed by separate reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) systems utilizing a dual-wavelength UV/visible detector at 254 and 546 nm. Each dye contains more than 35 impurity peaks. Different lots of each dye are compared by means of their respective chromatographic profiles. The system used to obtain a chromatographic profile for each dye is adapted to make comparisons of the major component in different lots by an internal standard method. These methods are reproducible, giving relative standard deviations ranging from approximately 1 to 5%. These HPLC systems are adaptable for the analysis of other structurally similar dyes.     

Accurate measurements of peak variances: importance of this accuracy in the determination of the true corrected plate heights of chromatographic columns

The true efficiency of a column is derived from the differences between the variances of the peak profiles of the same compound recorded in the presence and the absence of the chromatographic column. These variances are usually derived using one of three methods: (1) the retention time of the peak apex and its half-height width; (2) the moments of the best fit between the experimental data and a hybrid response function, e.g., an exponentially convoluted Gaussian; or (3) the exact moments of the experimental band profiles. Comparisons of the results of these methods show that the first method is always inaccurate because all the band profiles recorded are strongly tailing. The peak fit method is accurate only for 4.6mm I.D. columns operated with instruments having low extra-column volume but fails for short narrow-bore columns due to the severe tailing of peaks passing through the complex channels of the extra-column volumes and to the inaccuracies in the fit of experimental data to the selected function. Although far better, the moment method may be inaccurate when the zero dead volume union used to measure the extra-column peak variances has a higher permeability than the column, causing the upstream part of the instrument to operate under comparatively low pressures.     

The impact of column inner diameter on chromatographic performance in temperature gradient liquid chromatography

The impact of column inner diameter on chromatographic performance in temperature gradient liquid chromatography has been investigated in the present study. Columns with inner diameters of 0.32, 0.53, 3.2 and 4.6 mm were compared with respect to retention and efficiency characteristics using temperature gradients from 30 to 90 degrees C with temperature ramps of 1, 5, 10 and 20 degrees C min(-1). The columns were all of 15 cm length and were packed with 3 microm Hypersil ODS particles. Alkylbenzenes served as model compounds, and the mobile phase consisted of acetonitrile-water (50:50, v/v). The study revealed that the column ID is not a critical limiting factor when performing temperature programming in LC, at least for columns narrower than 4.6 mm inner diameter in the temperature interval 30-90 degrees C. The retention times for all components on all columns were highly comparable, with similar peak profiles without any signs of peak splitting. The use of mobile phase pre-heating when using the larger bore columns was avoided by starting the temperature gradients close to ambient. However, the relative apparent efficiency was inversely proportional to column inner diameter, making the capillary columns generally more functional towards temperature gradients than the larger bore columns with respect to chromatographic efficiency. In addition, the capillary columns possessed higher robustness towards temperature programming than the conventional columns.     

Evaluation of restricted access media for high-performance liquid chromatographic analysis of sulfonamide antibiotic residues in bovine serum.

Three commercially-available high-performance liquid chromatographic columns packed with restricted access media were evaluated for suitability in multi-residue direct injection analysis at the ng/ml level. The internal surface reversed-phase and shielded hydrophobic phase columns were not sufficiently retentive to separate all analytes from the tail of the matrix peak. Coelution of some of the analytes was also observed with these columns. The semi-permeable surface column was significantly more retentive and selective, providing good separation of analyte and matrix peaks. With this column, an analytical protocol requiring no organic solvents was developed for the assay of six sulfonamides at a detection limit of 25 ng/ml.     

Validation of capillary electrophoresis method for determination of N-methylpyrrolidine in cefepime for injection

The present study relates to a new capillary electrophoresis method for the determination of N-methylpyrrolidine, an impurity considered to be toxic and also potential degradation impurity in cefepime hydrochloride drug substance. The newly developed capillary electrophoresis method for determining the content of N-methylpyrrolidine in cefepime for injection has been validated as per International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) guidelines to prove the selectivity, sensitivity, suitability, robustness, and ruggedness of the method. This simple, efficient, and rapid methodology may be used by pharmaceutical industry for routine analysis as well as during stability studies. The newly developed capillary electrophoresis method to determine the content of N-methylpyrrolidine in cefepime for injection requires 10 min for data acquisition, and uses an indirect UV photometry method to detect the analyte signal at 240 nm against the reference signal at 210 nm. The electrophoretic system is optimized to get stable base line, higher signal to noise ratio and peaks with narrow peak width. The method employs bare fused silica capillary with extended light path, effective length of capillary is 56 cm and inner diameter of capillary is 50 μm, 5 mmole of imidazole buffer adjusted to pH 5.1 with 3 molar acetic acid solution is used as background electrolyte. The sample is introduced in hydrodynamic mode employing pressure of 50 mbar for 5 s, and the desired separation is achieved with constant applied voltage of 25 kV at ambient temperature (~25°C).     

Evaluation of packed capillary liquid chromatography columns and comparison with conventional-size columns

Apart from extracolumn effects peak dispersion in liquid chromatographic columns is caused by the column inlet, the packed bed, and the column outlet. A strategy applicable for independent evaluation of the individual sources of column band broadening was developed on the basis of the linear extrapolation method (LEM). This method was applied to compare the performance of packed capillary LC columns from various commercial suppliers with conventional-size columns. The columns differed widely in their performance with respect to peak shapes and widths for standard substances. The capillary columns were found well packed, but in some cases overall performance would benefit from improving the design of the area between the packed bed and the connecting capillaries, containing frits as well as dead volumes.     

Liquid Chromatographic Characteristics of Ethylenethiourea with HPLC Carbon,Chiral, Polymer and Reverse-Phase Bonded Silica Columns

Abstract

Of the columns investigated, the graphitised carbon column provided the best chromatographic characteristics for the highly water-soluble compound ethylenethiourea (ETU). The stability of the carbon column in strongly acidic media permitted the incorporation of the phosphoric acid electrolyte into the 5% acetonitrile-in-water mobile phase. ETU eluted from the column in 200 s as a sharp symmetrical peak at a mobile phase flow rate of 1 mL/min and a column temperature of 35°C. The k' value was 1.72. ETU peak retention times and responses showed excellent repeatability with coefficients of variation of 0.28 and 1.40%, respectively, for 6 replicates with the high performance liquid chromatographic-electrochemical system using the graphitised carbon column. Although ETU eluted as a sharp symmetrical peak with the cyclodextrin chiral columns, their instability at low pH required post-column addition of the phosphoric acid electrolyte solution. ETU chromatographed poorly or degraded on the polymer columns. The chromatographic separation of ETU on the C-8 reverse-phase bonded silica column appeared to be due mainly to residual silanol groups. With the NH₂ bonded silica column ETU eluted immediately after the injection solvent.