Headspace-programmed temperature vaporizer-fast gas chromatography-mass spectrometry coupling for the determination of trihalomethanes in water

A new method based on the use of a headspace autosampler in combination with a GC equipped with a programmable temperature vaporizer (PTV) and an MS detector has been developed for the screening and quantitative determination of trihalomethanes (THMs) in different aqueous matrices. The use of headspace generation to introduce the sample has the advantage that no prior sample treatment is required, thus minimizing the creation of analytical artifacts and the errors associated with this step of the analytical process. The PTV inlet used was packed with Tenax-TA. The injection mode was solvent vent, in which the analytes are retained in the hydrophobic insert packing by cold trapping, while the water vapour is eliminated through the split line. This allows rapid injection of the sample in splitless mode, very low detection limits being achieved without the critical problem of initial sample bandwidth. The capillary column used allowed rapid separations with half-height widths ranging from 1.68 s (chloroform) to 0.66 s (bromoform). The GC run time was 7.3 min. The use of mass spectrometry allows the identification and quantification of the analytes at the low ppt level. The S/N ratio was at least 10-fold higher when the SIM mode was used in data acquisition as compared to the scan mode. The proposed method is extremely sensitive, with detection limits ranging from 0.4 to 2.6 ppt.     

Dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction combined with gas chromatography for extraction and determination of class 1 residual solvents in pharmaceuticals

The present study reports a new method for analyzing class 1 residual solvents (RSs), 1,1-dichloroethene (1,1-DCE), 1,2-dichloroethane (1,2-DCE), 1,1,1-trichloroethane (1,1,1-TCE), carbon tetrachloride (CT), and benzene (Bz), in pharmaceutical products using dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (DLLME) combined with gas chromatography-flame ionization detection (GC-FID). Unlike common DLLME methods, solvents of high boiling point were selected as dispersive and extraction solvents in order to prevent their chromatographic peaks from overlapping with those of analytes that have short retention times. Therefore N,N-dimethyl formamide (DMF) and 1,2-dibromoethane (1,2-DBE) were chosen as dispersive and extraction solvents, respectively. Analytical parameters of the proposed method were determined and good linearities and broad linear ranges (LRs) were obtained. Taking 500 mg samples, limit of detections for the tested pharmaceuticals were obtained as 0.11, 0.03, 0.05, 0.05, and 0.006 μg g(-1) for CT, 1,1-DCE, 1,2-DCE, 1,1,1-TCE, and Bz, respectively, which are considerably much lower than their permissible limits in pharmaceuticals.     

Unknown residual solvents identification in drug products by headspace solid phase microextraction gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

Summary A sensitive headspace SPME method for the extraction of residual solvents from pharmaceutical products has been developed and optimized. It was found that minimizing sample and headspace volume has a beneficial effect on extraction efficiency. At the same time the method reproducibility was seriously affected by reducing sample and headspace volume. The added air volume was not found to have any significant influence on method sensitivity. The method showed reproducibilities of less than 10% and detection limits as low as 1 ppb for benzene and dichloromethane. The headspace SPME method is around 1000 times more sensitive than static headspace. The optimized parameters were headspace volume 1.5 mL, sample volume 10 μL, and extraction time 30 min. The method was successfully applied to the identification of unknown residual solvents in three different proprietary active drug substances and was successfully applied to the confirmation of the presence of benzene in a proprietary drug substance. Presented at Balaton Symposium '01 on High-Performance Separation Methods, Siófok, Hungary, September 2–4, 2001     

Simultaneous determination of gasoline oxygenates and benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene in water samples using headspace-programmed temperature vaporization-fast gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

A sensitive method is presented for the fast analysis of seven fuel oxygenates (methanol, ethanol, tert-butyl alcohol (TBA), methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE), ethyl tert-butyl ether (ETBE), tert-amyl methyl ether (TAME) and diisopropyl ether (DIPE)) and benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and p-xylene (BTEX) in water samples. The applicability of a headspace (HS) autosampler in combination with a GC device equipped with a programmable temperature vaporizer (PTV) and a MS detector is explored. The proposed method achieves a clear improvement in sensitivity with respect to conventional headspace methods due to the use of the PTV. Two different packed liners with materials of different trapping strengths (glass wool and Tenax-TA) were compared. The benefits of using Tenax-TA instead of glass wool as packed material for the measurement of the 11 compounds emerged as better signal-to-noise ratios and hence better detection limits. The proposed method is extremely sensitive. The limits of detection are of the order of ng/L for six of the compounds studied and of the order of microg/L for the rest, with the exception of the most polar and volatile compound: methanol. Precision (measured as the relative standard deviation for a level with an S/N ratio close to 3) was equal to or lower than 15% in all cases. The method was applied to the determination of the analytes in natural matrixes (tap, river and sea water) and the results obtained can be considered highly satisfactory. The methodology has much lower detection limits than the concentration limits proposed in drinking water by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the European Union for compounds under regulation.     

Determination of volatile residual solvents in pharmaceutical products by headspace liquid-phase microextraction gas chromatography-flame ionization detector

This paper demonstrates headspace liquid-phase microextraction (HS-LPME) as used for the determination of volatile residual solvents in pharmaceutical products. This method is based on headspace liquid-phase microextraction capillary column gas chromatography. Under optimum conditions, the linerary of the method ranged from 1 to 1,000 mg l⁻¹. The limits of detection are 0.2–2.0 mg l⁻¹ and relative standard deviations (RSD) for most of the volatile solvents were below 10%. This novel method is applied to the analysis of volatile residual solvents in pharmaceutical products with satisfactory results.     

Determination of chlorinated solvents in industrial water and wastewater by DAI-GC-ECD

A very simple and quick analytical method, based on direct aqueous injection, for determination of halogenated solvents in refinery water and wastewater, is described. There is a need to determine halogenated solvents in refinery water streams, because they may originate from several processes. There is also a need to develop methods enabling VOX to be determined in samples containing oil fractions. The method described enables simultaneous determination of 26 compounds with low detection limits (sub-μg L⁻¹) and excellent precision, especially for highly halogenated solvents. The matrix effects of four types of sample were evaluated—the method seemed to be relatively insensitive to variations in matrix composition. Deuterated 1,2-dichloroethane was used as internal standard and surrogate compound in quantitative analysis; application of isotopically labelled compounds is rarely reported when non-mass spectrometric detectors are used for analysis. Analysis of real samples showed that the most frequently detected compounds were dichloromethane and 1,2-dichloroethane.     

顶空气相色谱法同时测定人工牛黄中7种残留溶剂

建立了同时测定人工牛黄中石油醚（60~90 ℃）、丙酮、乙酸乙酯、甲醇、二氯甲烷、乙醇、乙酸丁酯7种残留溶剂的顶空气相色谱分析方法。以Agilent DB-WAX毛细管色谱柱为分离柱,氢火焰离子化检测器检测,内标法定量,并考察了顶空平衡温度、加压时间、平衡时间等对残留溶剂测定的影响。在优化的条件下,7种残留溶剂在选择的浓度范围内线性关系良好,相关系数（r）均不小于0.9993;在高、中、低3个加标水平下,平均回收率为94.7%~105.2%,相对标准偏差（RSD）均不大于3.5%。方法的检出限（LOD）为0.43~5.23 mg/L,定量限（LOQ）为1.25~16.67 mg/L。该方法操作简单、准确灵敏、高效快捷,适用于人工牛黄中7种残留溶剂的同时检测。     

Analysis of residual solvents in pharmaceuticals with purge-and-membrane mass spectrometry

A method using purge-and-membrane mass spectrometry (PAM-MS) was developed for the analysis of residual solvents in pharmaceutical products. The method combines dynamic headspace and membrane inlet mass spectrometry. The limits of detection for the compounds studied, benzene, toluene, chloroform, 2-pentene and 2-methyl- and 3-methylpentane, were 0.05-0.1 mg/kg. In quantitative analysis the method showed good linearity (r(2) > 0.998) and acceptable within-day (RSD = 7.9-18%) and between-day (RSD = 6.8-10%) repeatability. The PAM-MS method combined with the custom-made Solver program was compared with a method using purge-and-trap gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (P&T-GC/MS) for identification of residual solvents from authentic samples. The results showed that PAM-MS/Solver provides reliable identification of the main volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the pharmaceuticals, but VOCs with low concentrations (below 0.5 mg/kg) were better identified by P&T-GC/MS. Other advantages of the PAM-MS method were short analysis times and non-requirement for pre-treatment of samples.     

顶空-气相色谱法测定葡萄糖氯化钠注射液中12种溶剂残留量

建立顶空-气相色谱法测定葡萄糖氯化钠注射液中12种残留溶剂含量的方法。采用HP-INNOWAX毛细管色谱柱(60 m×320μm,0.5μm)为分离柱,检测器为氢火焰离子化检测器(FID),柱温为程序升温。12种残留溶剂乙醇、异丙醇、丙酮、丁酮、乙酸乙酯、乙酸丁酯、乙酸正丙酯、甲苯、乙苯、对二甲苯、邻二甲苯、间二甲苯均能完全分离,在考察的浓度范围内线性关系良好(r>0.995),检出限分别为0.055,0.019,0.023,0.070,0.155,0.013,0.003,0.009,0.004,0.004,0.004,0.005μg/mL。平均回收率为90.6%~109.0%,测定结果的相对标准偏差为2.2%~5.6%(n=9)。该方法专属性强,精密度、准确度和检测灵敏度高,重复性好,可用于葡萄糖氯化钠注射液中12种溶剂残留量的测定。     

Programmed temperature vaporizer based method for the sensitive determination of trihalomethanes and benzene,toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes in soils

A methodology based on the coupling of a headspace autosampler with a GC and a MS detector operating in SIM mode has been developed for the determination of volatile organic compounds (THMs and BTEX) in soils. The GC device used is equipped with a programmable temperature vaporizer (PTV) packed with Tenax-TA^® to introduce the samples (the injection mode used was solvent vent), and a modular accelerated column heater (MACH™) to control column temperature. The proposed measurement procedure reduces the sample pretreatment step to a minimum. Combined use of solvent vent injection mode and mass spectrometry detection allows a highly sensitive method to be proposed, with limits of detection of the order of ng/kg for all the target compounds. Furthermore, the capillary column used allows rapid separations of compounds in less than 4.60 min, affording a very short total analysis cycle time of 9 min.     

顶空直接进样气相色谱法测定黏胶剂中的苯系物

目的建立检测黏胶剂中苯系物的方法。方法用顶空直接进样气相色谱法测定黏胶剂中的苯、甲苯、乙苯、对二甲苯、间二甲苯、邻二甲苯以及苯乙烯7种组分,对气相色谱柱、顶空加热温度以及顶空提取时间进行了讨论。结果对苯乙烯等7种被测组分的检测限均小于5mg/kg,7种组分在毛细管柱中能够很好的分离,回收率范围为81%～94%,RSD为5%～10%,具有操作简单、快速等特点。结论能够满足对黏胶剂中苯系物测定的分析要求。     

Room temperature ionic liquid as matrix medium for the determination of residual solvents in pharmaceuticals by static headspace gas chromatography

Using new solvent room temperature ionic liquid (IL) matrix media, testing of residual solvents in pharmaceutical preparations with static headspace gas chromatographic (SH-GC), is described. The purpose of this work was to demonstrate the feasibility of IL as diluent, six solvents utilized in synthesis of Adefovir Dipivoxil: acetonitrile, dichloromethane, N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP), toluene, dimethylformamide (DMF), n-butyl ether were dissolved in IL: 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([bmim]BF(4)). The method of external standard was used for quantitative analysis. Its performance was evaluated and validated: all the RSD were lower than 10%, the limits of detection were all of the ppm level and the method was both accurate and linear. And better sensitivities for the six solvents were gained with [bmim]BF(4) as diluent comparing with DMSO.     

Quality assessment of liquid pharmaceutical preparations by HSS-GC-FID

A new headspace gas chromatographic method with flame ionization detection (HSS-GC-FID) was developed and validated for the determination of methanol as the main volatile impurity present in ethanolic pharmaceutical preparations. The use of static headspace sampling minimized the interference of other volatile matrix components and provided satisfactory results in purity assessment of different complex samples. The developed procedure revealed to be rapid, sensitive, reproducible and accurate. The detection and quantification limits of methanol were 0.0003 and 0.0011% (v/v), respectively, and were sufficiently low to enable the estimation of organic volatile impurity according to the ICH guideline as well as the examination of methanol limit specified in European Pharmacopoeia for liquid pharmaceutical preparations. The proposed method was successfully applied to the analysis of diverse alcoholic herbal extracts and tinctures as well as ethanolic dermatological lotions.     

顶空气相色谱法测定氟尼辛葡甲胺原料药中有机溶剂残留量

建立了氟尼辛葡甲胺原料药中乙酸乙酯、甲醇、异丙醇、乙醇和乙腈有机溶剂残留量的顶空气相色谱分析方法。以HP-FFAP色谱柱(30 m×0.32 mm×1.0 μm)为分离柱,火焰离子化检测器检测,外标法定量,并考察了顶空平衡温度、平衡时间等对残留有机溶剂测定的影响。实验结果表明,在顶空平衡温度为90 ℃、平衡时间为30 min条件下获得较好的定量结果。乙酸乙酯、甲醇、异丙醇、乙醇和乙腈的线性范围分别为0.40～7.93 mg/L (r=0.9998)、7.32～146.48 mg/L (r=0.9996)、4.53～90.61 mg/L (r=0.9999)、3.62～72.32 mg/L (r=0.9998)和2.31～46.24 mg/L (r=0.9996);平均回收率范围为95.96%～100.31%,精密度(以相对标准偏差计,n=6)为1.97%～3.28%;检出限分别为0.08、0.9、0.2、0.4和0.3 mg/L。利用该方法对实际样品氟尼辛葡甲胺原料药中有机溶剂残留量进行了检测。结果表明,该样品中含有异丙醇和乙醇,其含量分别为177.44 μg/g与69.32 μg/g。本方法快速、灵敏、准确,适用于氟尼辛葡甲胺原料药中残留溶剂的检测。     

Determination of volatile residual solvents in traditional Chinese medicines by headspace solid-phase microextraction and cryogenic gas chromatography with flame ionization detection

A method based on headspace solid-phase microextraction and cryogenic gas chromatography with flame ionization detection was developed for the determination of volatile residual solvents in traditional Chinese medicines. A laboratory-made cryogenic chromatographic system was used for the separation of 15 kinds of residual solvents. During the analysis, a 65 microm PDMS/DVB fiber was used to extract the residual solvents, the extraction time was controlled at 0 degrees C for 15 min, and the NaCl content of the sample was maintained at 30%. The limits of detection ranged from 0.08 (for octane) to 5000 microg/L (for ethanol), and the relative standard deviations were < 8%. The recoveries from spiked samples ranged from 88 to 112%. Trace levels of residual solvents in several traditional Chinese medicines were effectively identified and quantified.     

静态顶空/气相色谱-质谱法同时测定化妆品中22种有毒挥发性有机溶剂残留

以2015版《化妆品安全技术规范》中规定的常见禁用及限用有毒挥发性有机溶剂为研究对象,建立了静态顶空/气相色谱-质谱法(SHS/GC-MS)同时测定化妆品中22种有毒挥发性有机溶剂(VOC)(二氯甲烷、顺式-1,2-二氯乙烯、反式-1,2-二氯乙烯、2-氯-1,3-丁二烯、三氯甲烷、1,2-二氯乙烷、苯、四氯化碳、三氯乙烯、甲苯、四氯乙烯、氯苯、乙苯、三溴甲烷、间二甲苯、对二甲苯、苯乙烯、邻二甲苯、异丙苯、1,4-二氯苯、1,2-二氯苯、六氯丁二烯)残留的检测方法。试样在80℃下30 min静态顶空,经DB-1柱分离后,采用选择离子监测模式(SIM)进行定性定量分析。优化了顶空、色谱和质谱参数,结果表明:22种VOC在0.5~50 ng/m L浓度范围内均呈良好的线性关系,相关系数均大于0.99,在1.0,2.0,5.0 ng/m L 3个浓度加标水平下的平均回收率为80.3%~102.7%,相对标准偏差(RSD,n=6)为6.4%~9.9%,检出限为0.2~5.0 ng/g。结果表明,该方法简便、灵敏、准确,具有良好的重现性和稳定性,适合于化妆品中22种VOC残留的筛查和确证检测。     

Electrochemical preparation of polyaniline-ionic liquid based solid phase microextraction fiber and its application in the determination of benzene derivatives

A polyaniline-ionic liquid (i.e. 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate, [C(4)mim][BF(4)]) composite film coated platinum wire (PANI-IL/Pt) was prepared by electrochemical method for the first time. Scanning electron microscopy image showed that the PANI-IL composite film was even and porous. When the PANI-IL/Pt was used as a fiber for the headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) of some benzene derivatives (i.e. 1,3-dimethylbenzene, 1,2-dimethylbenzene, 1,4-dichlorobenzene, 1,2-dichlorobenzene, 1,3,5-trimethylbenzene and 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene), followed by gas chromatographic analysis, it presented excellent performance, which was much better than that of PANI/Pt and commercial polydimethylsiloxane fiber. Hence the fiber was coupled with gas chromatography for the determination of these benzene derivatives. It was found that under the optimized conditions the linear ranges were 0.04-400 μg L(-1) with correlation coefficients above 0.99, the detection limits were 9.3-48.1 ng L(-1) (S/N=3), the relative standard deviations (RSDs) were smaller than 5.1% for five successive measurements with single fiber, and the RSDs for fiber-to-fiber were 5.0-11.1% (n=3) for different benzene derivatives. The proposed method was successfully applied to the extraction and determination of benzene derivatives in waste water and tap water, and the recoveries were 87.1-108.1% for different analytes. Therefore, the PANI-IL/Pt is a promising SPME fiber.     

Use of in-tube sorptive extraction techniques for determination of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes in soft drinks

A comparison is made between static headspace analysis and headspace solid-phase dynamic extraction (HS-SPDE) for the quantitative determination of trace level BTEX solvents (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and o-, m-, and p-xylene) in soft drinks. Two non-polar extraction phases were investigated for SPDE using an automated sampler with a gas-tight syringe equipped with a special needle coated on the inside with the extraction phase. Following adsorption onto the phase, the analytes were thermally desorbed directly into a GC-MS. The techniques were optimised and evaluated by analysis of spiked soft drink samples. The use of the SPDE device gave comparable results to the static headspace method, with lower detection limits for some compounds, and also offers advantages for applications where lower temperatures are preferred.     

Determination of filbertone in spiked olive oil samples using headspace-programmed temperature vaporization-gas chromatography–mass spectrometry

A sensitive method for the fast analysis of filbertone in spiked olive oil samples is presented. The applicability of a headspace (HS) autosampler in combination with a gas chromatograph (GC) equipped with a programmable temperature vaporizer (PTV) and a mass spectrometric (MS) detector is explored. A modular accelerated column heater (MACH^TM) was used to control the temperature of the capillary gas chromatography column. This module can be heated and cooled very rapidly, shortening total analysis cycle times to a considerable extent. The proposed method does not require any previous analyte extraction, filtration and preconcentration step, as in most methods described to date. Sample preparation is reduced to placing the olive oil sample in the vial. This reduces the analysis time and the experimental errors associated with this step of the analytical process. By using headspace generation, the volatiles of the sample are analysed without interference by the non-volatile matrix, and by using injection in solvent-vent mode at the PTV inlet, most of the compounds that are more volatile than filbertone are purged and the matrix effect is minimised. Use of a liner packed with Tenax-TA? allowed the compound of interest to be retained during the venting process. The limits of detection and quantification were as low as 0.27 and 0.83 μg/L, respectively, and precision (measured as the relative standard deviation) was 5.7%. The method was applied to the determination of filbertone in spiked olive oil samples and the results revealed the good accuracy obtained with the method.     

Some applications of state-of-the-art capillary gas chromatography in the pharmaceutical industry

Some challenging pharmaceutical applications performed with state-of-the-art capillary gas chromatography (CGC) are presented. For assay and purity determinations cool on-column (COC) injection is the preferred injection technique. A fast CGC headspace method is described to determine residual solvents in pharmaceutical products. Ethylene oxide and ethylene chlorohydrin, originating from the sterilisation of packaging materials, were measured in pharmaceutical formulations in a fully automated sequence with excellent retention time and peak-area reproducibility.