Ion mobility spectrometry of talarozole, a new azole drug, in cleaning quality control

Ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) gains increased pharmaceutical interest as an analytical technique for the verification of equipment cleaning. Using a fractional factorial design, we developed an IMS method for talarozole, which represents a new generation of retinoic acid metabolism blocking agents (RAMBA) that can be used for the treatment of different dermatological diseases, such as psoriasis and acne. Using a Smiths Detection Ionscan-LS and the optimal IMS settings obtained, talarozole showed a drift time of 16.648 ms, corresponding to a reduced ion mobility K₀ of 1.072 cm²V^?1s^?1. Total analysis times below 1 min were achieved. Talarozole was well separated in the plasmagram from other azole compounds and the limit of detection was found to be 43 ng/ml. Swab samples collected from steel and glass plates were successfully analyzed, thereby showing that IMS is indeed a suitable technique for the quantitative analysis of talarozole in cleaning quality control.