Identification of Impurities in 5-Aminolevulinic Acid by Two-Dimensional Column-Switching Liquid Chromatography Coupled with Linear Ion Trap Mass Spectrometry

Current developments in LC-MS for pharmaceutical analysis

Liquid chromatography (LC) based techniques in combination with mass spectrometry (MS) detection have had a large impact on the development of new pharmaceuticals in the past decades.

Application of novel ternary deep eutectic solvents as a functional monomer in molecularly imprinted polymers for purification of levofloxacin

A series of ecofriendly ternary deep eutectic solvents (DESs) with different molar ratios were prepared as candidate functional monomers. Three of the optimal ternary DESs as functional monomers were applied to the preparation of molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs). After synthesis, the proposed polymers were characterized by elemental analysis (EA), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area measurements (BET) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). These MIPs based on ternary DESs with different molar ratios exhibited different absorption capacities of levofloxacin. A sample of levofloxacin (500ng) was dissolved in a millet extractive (10mL). All MIPs were used as SPE adsorbents to purify the extracts. According to characterization result, the ternary DES-3 (1:3:1.5) was joined in the synthetic process of MIP-1. The green ternary DES-3-based MIPs had the best selectivity recovery for levofloxacin (91.4%) from the millet extractive. The best selectivity of MIP-1 was attributed to the novel monomer (ternary DES) in the preparation of the materials. Overall, ternary DES-based MIPs have potential applications as media in many research areas.

The use of online heart-cutting high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with linear ion trap mass spectrometry in the identification of impurities in vidarabine monophosphate

It is difficult to identify unknown impurities in nucleotide analogues by mass spectrometry because mass-spectrometry-incompatible mobile phases need to be used to separate the major ingredient from impurities. In this study, vidarabine monophosphate was selected, and unknown impurities were identified by online heart-cutting two-dimensional high-performance liquid chromatography and linear ion trap mass spectrometry. The one-dimensional reversed-phase column was filled with a mobile phase containing nonvolatile salt. In two-dimensional high-performance liquid chromatography, we used an Acclaim Q1 column with volatile salt, and the detection wavelength was 260 nm. The mass spectrum was scanned in positive- and negative-ion mode. The online heart-cutting and online demineralization technique ensured that the mobile phase was compatible with mass spectrometry; seven impurities were identified by MS² and MS³ fragments. The mass fragmentation patterns of these impurities were investigated. The two isomers were semiprepared and complemented by nuclear magnetic resonance. The results were further compared with those of normal-phase high-performance liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry. The online heart-cutting two-dimensional high-performance liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry was superior in identifying more impurities. The method solves the problem of incompatibility between the mobile phase and mass spectrometry, so it is suitable for identifying unknown impurities. This method may also be used for investigating impurities in other nucleotide analogues.