UHPLC Determination of Enantiomeric Purity of Sertraline in the Presence of its Production Impurities

A fast and low reagents consuming ultra-high performance liquid chromatography method was developed for the determination of the enantiomeric purity of sertraline in presence of its stereoisomers and four other process-related chiral impurities. The optimum chromatographic conditions were achieved using a commercially available C8 column with sub-2-μm particle size, and a mobile phase of 10 mM tetrabutylammonium hydrogen sulfate buffer pH = 3-acetonitrile (87:13, v/v) and 12 mM 2-hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin as chiral additive, with ultraviolet detection at 220 nm. The method was validated in terms of ruggedness, specificity, linearity, accuracy, precision, and limits of detection and quantification. Different variables affecting the enantioresolution and retention time were optimized, such as pH, buffer concentration and type, chiral additive concentration and type, flow rate, stationary phase, mobile phase, and column temperature. Total analysis time was reduced by 50 % compared with conventional HPLC; also 94 % of acetonitrile and 90 % of 2-hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin were saved.