Validation of an oil-in-water microemulsion liquid chromatography method for analysis of perindopril tert-butylamine and its impurities

This paper describes the development and validation of a microemulsion liquid chromatography (MELC) method for simultaneous determination of perindopril tert-butylamine and its impurities in bulk active substances and the pharmaceutical dosage form of tablets. An appropriate resolution with reasonable retention times was obtained for a microemulsion containing 0.24% (w/v) butyl acetate, 0.30% (w/v) ethyl acetate, 2% (w/v) sodium dodecyl sulfate, 7.75% (w/v) n-butanol, and 20.0 mM potassium dihydrogen phosphate, the pH of which was adjusted to 3.70 with 85% orthophosphoric acid. Separations were performed on a Nucleosil 120-5 butyl modified (C4), 250 x 4 mm, 5 microm particle size silica column at 40 degrees C, with a mobile phase flow rate of 1.25 mL/min. UV detection was performed at 254 nm. The established method was subjected to method validation, and required validation parameters were defined. Robustness testing, an important part of method validation, was performed as well. Since robustness validation can be conducted using different experimental designs, the Plackett-Burman design was applied due to its possibility of testing many factors at the same time. The validated MELC method was found to be suitable for the simultaneous determination of perindopril tert-butylamine and its impurities in pharmaceuticals.