Residual solvents in biodegradable microparticles: Determination by a dynamic headspace gas chromatographic method

Development of an analytical method to determine methyl alcohol and isopropyl alcohol in food using static headspace gas chromatography

A method to determine methanol (MeOH) and isopropyl alcohol (IPA) was developed using static headspace sampling (HSS) with gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). The optimized HSS-GC and HSS-GC/MS methods were validated according to the parameters. The limit of quantification (LOQ) values for MeOH analyzed by HSS-GC/MS and HSS-GC were 0.50-0.56 and 1.97 mg/L, and the corresponding values for IPA were 0.14-0.21 and 1.51 mg/L, respectively. Recoveries were determined by spiking sample matrices, such as vinegar and tea. MeOH and IPA showed excellent recoveries of 93.80-107.60% and 93.92-104.32% with corresponding precisions of 0.51-7.38% and 0.90-7.70%, respectively. Compared to solid-phase microextraction-GC/MS and HSS-GC, the HSS-GC/MS method showed outstanding values for limit of detection and LOQ with improved precision and accuracy. This HSS-GC/MS method was successfully used to monitor residual solvents in 100 food and functional food products.

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.