Isolation and structural elucidation of dapoxetine as an adulterant in a health supplement used for sexual performance enhancement

HPLC/Fluorescence-Diode Array Detection for Rapid and Reliable Determination of Illegal Synthetic Drugs in Male Sexual Herbal and Honey Remedies: Comparative Study with UFLC–MS

Background

Nutraceuticals (NTCs), as honey and tablets with herbal extract are subjected to adulteration.

Objective

For NTCs claimed to enhance sexual performance, synthetic drugs (sildenafil, tadalafil, avanafil, vardenafil, and dapoxetine) are common adulterants, so they were selected to be simultaneously analyzed in the current study. Natural aphrodisiacs (icariin and yohimbine) are claimed to be present in many fake NTCs, so they were also included in the study.

Methods

In order to achieve the target of the current study, three liquid chromatographic methods with different unique detectors were developed and validated.

Results

High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with fluorescence detection enables rapid and reliable determination of natively fluorescent yohimbine, tadalafil vardenafil, and dapoxetine and it is the first report to analyze these compounds as adulterants in counterfeit NTC. Although the diode-array detector (DAD) enables the analysis of the seven adulterants, the fluorescence detector (FLD) shows better sensitivity and selectivity with lower LOQs and LODs. On the other hand, ultra-fast liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (UFLC–MS) offers the advantages of peak identity confirmation, and it is of comparable sensitivity and selectivity to HPLC–FLD.

Conclusion

One or more of these synthetic drugs were found in the analyzed NTCs while natural aphrodisiacs were absent.

Highlights

Aphrodisiac nutraceuticals, NTCs, were analyzed for adulterants: five aphrodisiac synthetic drugs (adulterants) and two natural claimed aphrodisiacs. UFLC–MS and HPLC–DAD/FLD were compared for illicit NTCs analysis; all NTCs show the presence of synthetic aphrodisiacs and the absence of natural ones.

Simultaneous determination of Avanafil and Dapoxetine in human plasma using liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) based on a protein precipitation technique

A rapid and selective LC-MS/MS method is described for the simultaneous assay of Avanafil and Dapoxetine in human plasma via a protein precipitation (PP) sample preparation technique. Tadalafil was chosen as the internal standard reaching good recovery and reproducibility while diminishing the effects of the matrix. An Agilent Zorbax Eclipse XDB C₁₈ column (4.6 × 50 mm, 1.8 μm) was used for the chromatographic separation and analysis, while 0.1% formic acid : acetonitrile (60 : 40, v/v) was utilized at a flow rate of 0.5 mL min⁻¹. It was revealed that 6 min stop time accomplished the best separation. The assay was linear over the range of 10–6000 ng mL⁻¹ for both drugs. The established bio-analytical method validation was demonstrated following US-FDA recommendations including sensitivity, selectivity, linearity, accuracy and precision. Furthermore, other validation parameters were assessed such as the dilution integrity, matrix effect, carryover, and analyte stability during both short- and long-term sample processing and storage. The adopted method was efficaciously applied to a clinical study for the concurrent determination of Avanafil and Dapoxetine in human plasma.

A rapid and selective LC-MS/MS method is described for the simultaneous assay of Avanafil and Dapoxetine in human plasma via a protein precipitation (PP) sample preparation technique.

Electrochemical Determination of the Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor, Dapoxetine, Using Cesium-Gold Nanoparticles

Cesium-gold (Cs-Au) nanoparticles are shown to be analytically advantageous for the electroanalytical sensing of dapoxetine (DPX), a serotonin reuptake inhibitor used for the treatment of premature ejaculation. The Cs-Au nanoparticles are electrically wired and supported upon mass producible, economical screen-printed electrochemical sensing platforms and are characterized electrochemically (cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy) and physiochemically (field emission scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray analysis). The face-centered design was applied to optimize the significant experimental factors by using square wave voltammetry. The Cs-Au-based sensor is found to exhibit a large linear range (10-7 to 10-4 M) with a good analytical linearity with the limits of detection and quantification corresponding to 2.50 × 10-10 and 8.33 × 10-8 M, respectively. The developed sensor was successfully applied in the quantification of DPX in the presence of sildenafil, both of which are commonly found within combined dose tablet pharmaceutical formulations. The proposed DPX electrochemical Cs-Au-based sensor has the advantages of being single-shot and disposable and is shown to be successful in determining DPX in pharmaceutical formulations, human urine, and serum samples with acceptable recoveries.

Thermal Analysis Investigation of Dapoxetine and Vardenafil Hydrochlorides using Molecular Orbital Calculations

PURPOSE

Thermal analysis techniques have been used to study the thermal behavior of dapoxetine and vardenafil hydrochlorides and confirmed using semi-empirical molecular orbital calculations.

METHODS

Thermogravimetric analysis, derivative thermogravimetry, differential thermal analysis and differential scanning calorimetry were used to determine the thermal behavior and purity of the drugs under investigation. Thermodynamic parameters such as activation energy, enthalpy, entropy and Gibbs free energy were calculated.

RESULTS

Thermal behavior of DAP and VAR were confirmed using by semi-empirical molecular orbital calculations. The purity values were found to be 99.97% and 99.95% for dapoxetine and vardenafil hydrochlorides, respectively. The purity of dapoxetine and vardenafil hydrochlorides is similar to that found by reported methods according to DSC data.

CONCLUSION

Thermal analysis justifies its application in quality control of pharmaceutical compounds due to its simplicity, sensitivity and low operational costs.

Structure elucidation of a process-related impurity of dapoxetine

Unknown by-product associated with the synthesis of dapoxetine was isolated. The structure elucidation of this new compound using accurate mass data and NMR spectroscopy is presented herein. The unambiguous resonance assignment concluded to the formation of a tricyclic compound 4-phenyl-2H,3H,4H-naphtho[1,2-b]pyran, a new impurity of dapoxetine which has never been reported previously. A proposed mechanism for the formation of the new carbon-carbon bond is discussed. For the separation of dapoxetine and the process-related impurities, a gradient HPLC method was developed.

Sildenafil and analogous phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE-5) inhibitors in herbal food supplements sampled on the Dutch market

Herbal food supplements, claiming to enhance sexual potency, may contain deliberately added active pharmacological ingredients (APIs) that can be used for the treatment of erectile dysfunction (ED). The aim of this study was to determine whether herbal food supplements on the Dutch market indeed contain APIs that inhibit phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE-5) inhibitors, such as sildenafil and analogous PDE-5 inhibitors. Herbal food supplements intended to enhance sexual potency (n = 71), and two soft drinks, were sampled from 2003 up to and including 2012. In 23 herbal supplements, nine different PDE-5 inhibitors were identified; in a few cases (n = 3), more than one inhibitor was indentified. The presence of these APIs was however not stated on the label. The concentrations of PDE-5 inhibitors per dose unit were analysed. Furthermore, the potential pharmacologically active properties of the detected PDE-5 inhibitors were estimated by using data from the scientific and patent literature regarding (1) in vitro PDE-5 activity, (2) reported effective doses of registered drugs with PDE-5 inhibitor activity and (3) similarity to other structural analogues. It was concluded that 18 of the 23 herbal food supplements, when used as recommended, would have significant pharmacological effects due to added APIs. Adequate use of existing regulation and control measures seems necessary to protect consumers against the adverse effects of these products.

Chiral recognition of dapoxetine enantiomers with methylated-gamma-cyclodextrin: a validated capillary electrophoresis method

The enantiomers of dapoxetine, a serotonin transporter inhibitor for the treatment of premature ejaculation have been separated by cyclodextrin modified capillary zone electrophoresis using uncoated fused-silica capillary. Over 20 cyclodextrins were screened as chiral selectors, investigating the stability of the inclusion complexes and enantioseparating properties. According to the preliminary experiments as chiral selector randomly methylated-γ-cyclodextrin was chosen. The basic chemical and instrumental parameters of enantioseparation as concentration of buffer, chiral selector and organic additive, pH, temperature and applied voltage were optimized afterwards using an orthogonal experimental design. Using this methodology not only the optimal parameter values for chiral separation (15 °C, +15 kV, 70 mM acetate, 20 v/v% MeOH, pH*=4.5, 3 mM methylated-γ-CyD) but also the significance order of factors on resolution was determined. Applying these parameters an optimal resolution of 7.01 was achieved. The optimized method was then validated according to the ICH guideline Q2 (R1) with regard to repeatability, linearity range, LOD, LOQ, accuracy and robustness.

Advances in structure elucidation of small molecules using mass spectrometry

The structural elucidation of small molecules using mass spectrometry plays an important role in modern life sciences and bioanalytical approaches. This review covers different soft and hard ionization techniques and figures of merit for modern mass spectrometers, such as mass resolving power, mass accuracy, isotopic abundance accuracy, accurate mass multiple-stage MS(n) capability, as well as hybrid mass spectrometric and orthogonal chromatographic approaches. The latter part discusses mass spectral data handling strategies, which includes background and noise subtraction, adduct formation and detection, charge state determination, accurate mass measurements, elemental composition determinations, and complex data-dependent setups with ion maps and ion trees. The importance of mass spectral library search algorithms for tandem mass spectra and multiple-stage MS(n) mass spectra as well as mass spectral tree libraries that combine multiple-stage mass spectra are outlined. The successive chapter discusses mass spectral fragmentation pathways, biotransformation reactions and drug metabolism studies, the mass spectral simulation and generation of in silico mass spectra, expert systems for mass spectral interpretation, and the use of computational chemistry to explain gas-phase phenomena. A single chapter discusses data handling for hyphenated approaches including mass spectral deconvolution for clean mass spectra, cheminformatics approaches and structure retention relationships, and retention index predictions for gas and liquid chromatography. The last section reviews the current state of electronic data sharing of mass spectra and discusses the importance of software development for the advancement of structure elucidation of small molecules. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s12566-010-0015-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.