Analytical tools for greenness assessment of chromatographic approaches: Application to pharmaceutical combinations of Indapamide, Perindopril and Amlodipine

Development of a Validated UPLC-MS/MS Method for Simultaneous Estimation of Neratinib and Curcumin in Human Plasma: Application to Greenness Assessment and Routine Quantification

A validated ultraperformance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) method was developed for the first-ever simultaneous analysis of neratinib, curcumin and internal standard (imatinib) using acetonitrile as the liquid-liquid extraction medium. On a BEH C18 (100 mm × 2.1 mm, 1.7 μm) column, the analytes were separated isocratically using acetonitrile (0.1% formic acid):0.002M ammonium acetate. The flow rate was set at 0.5 mL.min-1. The authors utilized multiple reaction monitoring-based transitions for the precursor-to-product ion with m/z 557.099 → 111.928 for neratinib, m/z 369.231 → 176.969 curcumin and m/z 494.526 → 394.141 for imatinib during the study. Validation of the method as per United States Food and Drug Administration requirements for linearity (5-40 ng mL-1), accuracy and precision, stability, matrix effect, etc. were investigated and were observed to be acceptable. Afterward, we evaluated the method for establishing its greenness profile by using two greenness assessment tools and found it green. Overall, a reliable green UPLC-MS/MS method was devised and used to estimate neratinib and curcumin in human plasma simultaneously.

Utilization of erythrosine B in spectrofluorimetric quenching analysis of amlodipine and perindopril in pharmaceutical and biological matrices

A spectrofluorimetric approach that is sensitive, simple, validated, and cost-effective has been proposed for the estimation of amlodipine (AML) and perindopril (PER) in their bulk powders, pharmaceutical formulations, and spiked human plasma. The recommended approach utilized the quantitative quenching effect of the two cited drugs on the fluorescence intensity of erythrosine B, as a result of complex binary reactions among each drug with erythrosine B at pH 3.5 (Teorell and Stenhagen buffer). The quenching of erythrosine B fluorescence was recorded at 554 nm after excitation at 527 nm. The calibration curve was detected in the range 0.25-3.0 μg ml-1 , with a correlation coefficient of 0.9996 for AML, and 0.1-1.5 μg ml-1 , with a correlation coefficient of 0.9996 for PER. The established spectrofluorimetric approach was validated for the estimation of the cited drugs with high sensitivity regarding International Council on Harmonization guidelines. Therefore, the established approach could be utilized for quality control of the cited drugs in their pharmaceutical formulations.

A Comparative Analysis on the Environmental Impact of Selected Methods for Determining the Profile of Fatty Acids in Cheese

The fatty acid profile of cheese influences its sensory parameters, such as color, texture, or flavor. Examining the fatty acid profile also helps to assess the nutritional value of the cheese that is being tested. However, the determination of fatty acids in cheese samples is a multi-stage and time-consuming task. In addition, large amounts of toxic organic solvents are used to prepare samples for analysis purposes. This paper presents the results of a study to determine the fatty acid profile of yellow cheese samples. Six different methods of sample preparation were compared for analysis purposes. The profile of fatty acids was determined using gas chromatography with flame ionization detection (GC-FID). The study showed significant differences (p > 0.05) in the resulting fatty acid profile between the methods used. It was found that the most reliable fatty acid profile results were obtained using methods derived from the Folch method. In addition, tools such as the Analytical Eco-Scale tool and the Analytical Greenness Metric for Sample Preparation (AGREEprep) tool were used to assess the greenness of the methods used. In the case of the Analytical Eco-Scale tool, all six methods scored 'acceptable green analysis' with scores ranging from 61 to 73. However, an evaluation of methods using the AGREEprep metric showed that the results of the methods (0.13-0.27) did not show the "greenness" of the analytical methods.

Sustainable Stability-Indicating spectra manipulations for the concurrent quantification of a novel Anti-COVID-19 drug and its active Metabolite: Green profile assessment

Millions of individuals have lost their lives and changed their routines as a direct consequence of exposure to the coronavirus (Covid-19). Molnupiravir (MOL) is an orally bioavailable tiny molecule antiviral prodrug that is effective for curing the coronavirus that produces serious acute respiratory disorder (SARS-CoV-2). Fully green-assessed stability-indicating simple spectrophotometric methods have been developed and fully validated as per ICH criteria. The potential impact of degradation products of drug components on the safety and efficacy of a medication's shelf life is likely to be negligible. The field of pharmaceutical analysis necessitates various stability testing under different conditions. The conduct of such inquiries affords the prospect of predicting the most probable routes of degradation and ascertaining the inherent stability characteristics of the active drugs. Consequently, a surge in demand arose for the creation of an analytical methodology that could consistently measure the degradation products and/or impurities that may be present in pharmaceuticals. Herein, five smart and simple spectrophotometric data manipulation techniques have been produced for the concurrent estimation of MOL and its active metabolite as its possible acid degradation product namely; N-hydroxycytidine (NHC). Structure confirmation of NHC build-up through IR, MS and NMR analyses. All current techniques verified linearity ranging from 10 to 150 μg/ml and 10-60 μg/ml for MOL and NHC, respectively. The limit of quantitation (LOQ) values were in the range of 4.21-9.59 μg/ml, while the limit of detection (LOD) values were ranging from 1.38 - 3.16 μg/ml. The current methods were evaluated in terms of greenness by four assessing methods and confirmed to be green. The significant novelty of these methods depends on their being the first environmentally soundness stability-indicating spectrophotometric approaches for the concurrent estimation of MOL and its active metabolite, NHC. Also, the preparation of purified NHC delivers significant cost savings, instead of purchasing an expensive ingredient. These smart methods were utilized for analyzing the pharmaceutical dosage form which may be of great benefit to the pharmaceutical market.

Development of a detection method for 10 non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs residues in four swine tissues by ultra-performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry

The ultra-performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) detection method was developed for the residues of 10 NSAIDs (salicylic acid, acetylsalicylic acid, acetaminophen, diclofenac, tolfenamic acid, antipyrine, flunixin meglumine, aminophenazone, meloxicam, metamizole sodium) in swine muscle, liver, kidney, and fat. Swine tissue samples were extracted by phosphorylated acetonitrile with the addition of an appropriate amount of internal standard working solution, defatted with acetonitrile-saturated n-hexane, and purified by Hydrophile-Lipophile Balance (HLB) solid-phase extraction column, then separated by UPLC BEH shield RP₁₈ column with 0.1% formic acid in water/0.1% formic acid in acetonitrile with gradient elution, which was detected in the multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) modes. The correlation coefficient of the standard curve equation is greater than 0.99, and the coefficient of variation within and between batches is less than 14.4%. We evaluated the analytical method using two green assessment tools. The method established in this study met the requirements of NSAID residue analysis and provides analytical tools for determining and confirming NSAIDs in swine tissue samples. This is the first report on the simultaneous determination of 10 NSAIDs in four swine tissues by the UPLC-MS/MS method and accurate quantification using deuterated internal standards.

Analysis of Fixed-Dose Combination of Three Antihypertensive Drugs by a Green and Quality by Design Approach

This paper presents the result of a combined employment of Analytical Quality-by-Design and Green Analytical Chemistry principles for the development of a robust high-performance liquid chromatography method for simultaneous determination of fixed-dose combination of three drugs, perindopril tert-butylamine, amlodipine besylate and indapamide. Optimum conditions were achieved on ZORBAX Eclipse XDB-C18 column (150 mm × 4.6 mm, 5 μm particle size), the mobile phase comprising acetonitrile and phosphate buffer (30 mM, pH 2.7) in the ratio 34:66 (v/v), the flow rate of 1 mL min-1, injection volume of 10 μL and UV detection at 210 nm. By assigning the design space from the overlay plot, the regions within which the robustness of the method is achieved were defined and confirmed by Dong's algorithm calculations. The proposed method was validated and shown to be applicable for the determination of the three drugs in commercially available tablets. In addition, the impact of the method on the environment was assessed through four different analytical tools: National Environmental Methods Index, Analytical Eco-Scale, Green Analytical Procedure Index and Assessment of Green Profile. The proposed method was determined to be greener, with minimal impact on the environment with regard to waste production, energy consumption and use of hazardous chemicals.

Spectrofluorimetric assay of amlodipine and perindopril in their raw materials, pharmaceutical formulations and spiked human plasma through the formation of complexes with Eosin Y

For quantitation of amlodipine (AML) and perindopril (PER) in their authentic, pharmaceutical formulations and spiked human plasma, a simple, sensitive, validated and inexpensive spectrofluorimetric method has been developed. The proposed method is developed to be based on quantitative quenching effect of two antihypertensive drugs on Eosin Y's native fluorescence which was achieved by developing binary complexes between each of the cited drugs in an acidic environment using acetate buffer (pH 4.4) with Eosin Y. Fluorescence quenching was recorded at 544 nm after excitation at 425 nm. For AML and PER, calibration curves were obtained over the range of 0.3–3.0 µg/mL and 0.2–2.0 µg/mL, respectively, with correlation coefficients of 0.9993 and 0.9995, respectively. The developed method was validated according to ICH guidelines. The proposed spectrofluorimetric method is regarded new and sensitive. As a result, the proposed method might be used to estimate the quality of the cited drugs in their pharmaceutical formulations and biological fluid.

Simultaneous spectrophotometric determination of fluphenazine HCl and nortriptyline HCl in presence of their potential impurities perphenazine and dibenzosuberone in bulk and pharmaceutical formulation

Fluphenazine HCl (FLU) is an anxiolytic, while Nortriptyline HCl (NOR) is an anti-depressant. They are co-formulated together to treat depression and schizophrenia. Perphenazine (PER) and dibenzosuberone (DBZ) are the pharmacopeial impurities of FLU and NOR, respectively. Four spectrophotometric and multivariate chemometric methods were developed to determine the two drugs together or in presence of their two impurities in their bulk and pharmaceutical formulation. Method (A) is the triple divisor-ratio derivative (TDR) method, where the zero order spectrum of each component was divided by a mixture of the other 3 components, then the peak amplitudes of the first derivative spectra of FLU, NOR and DBZ were measured at 265, 245.4 and 283.2 nm, respectively. Method (B) is the double divisor-ratio difference-dual wavelength (DD-RD-DW) method, in which each component spectrum mixture was divided by a binary mixture of 2 of the interfering components. In the resulting ratio spectra, the amplitude difference is calculated between 2 wavelengths at which the third interfering component has zero difference. Methods (C and D) are the principle component analysis (PCA) and partial least squares (PLS) models. Methods (A and B) failed to quantify PER (FLU impurity), while (C and D) succeeded to quantify all components. The four methods have been applied for the prediction of the FLU and NOR in their pharmaceutical formulation with good accuracy and precision. The proposed methods have been validated according to the ICH guidelines and the results were within the acceptable limits.

Four Greenness Evaluations of Two Chromatographic Methods: Application to Fluphenazine HCl and Nortriptyline HCl Pharmaceutical Combination in Presence of Their Potential Impurities Perphenazine and Dibenzosuberone

Nowadays, when analysts develop a new method, they are taking into consideration the green aspects of the developed method. Two chromatographic methods were developed for the determination of antidepressant pharmaceutical combination nortriptyline hydrochloride and fluphenazine hydrochloride in presence of their potential impurities and the methods were assessed using four tools; eco-scale, analytical greenness profile (AGP), analytical greenness metric approach (AGREE), and green analytical procedure index (GAPI). Method (A) was RP-HPLC, in which the separation was carried out on C18 column (250 × 4.5 mm, 5 µm) by gradient elution using mobile phase consisting of a mixture of water containing 0.1% H3PO4 (pH 2.25) and methanol, at a flow rate of 2 mL/min with DAD detection at 254 nm. Method (B) was TLC, in which the separation was carried out on silica gel TLC F254 plates. The mobile phase used was a mixture of methanol and acetone (9:1, v/v) with UV detection at 245 nm. The proposed methods agreed with ICH guidelines of method validation and were successfully applied for determination of the proposed components in their dosage form and the results were compared statistically to those obtained by the reported RP-HPLC method with no significant difference; which suggests the application of the developed methods for routine quality control analysis of these drugs.

Determination of active ingredients in antihypertensive drugs using a novel green HPLC method approach

A novel, sensitive, fast, and pratic RP-HPLC methods were presented for the quantitative amounts of Telmisartan (TEL) and Olmesartan (OLM) in the presence of Amlodipin (AML) in a binary mixture of pharmaceutical preparation. Waters Spherisorb ODS-2 C18 column was used for separation. These methods were valid over linearity ranges of 2.5-30 μμg/mlL, 2-85 μμg/mlL, and 2-35 μμg/mlL for OLM, TEL, and AML, respectively. The mobile phase system consisted of acetonitrile:methanol: phosphate buffer at pH 3.0 (65:5:30 v/v/v), and the flow rate was 1,5 mlL/min for OLM and AML. The mobile system's other mixture (TEL and AML) was acetonitrile:methanol: phosphate buffer at pH 2.5 (65:5:30 v/v/v), and the flow rate was 1,5 mlL/min. These procedures were successfully applied to bulk, laboratory synthetic mixture, and medicinal dosage forms to use active ingredients quantitatively. The studied methods were validated according to ICH guidelines. In the developed HPLC method, the limit of detection values was found to be 0.020 μμg/mlL for TEL, 0.025 μμg/mlL for OML, and 0.070 μμg/mlL for AML. The correlation coefficients for the HPLC method were found to be 0.9938 for TEL, 0.9996 for OML, and 0.9982 for AML. The calibration range is between 2.5 and -30, 5-35, and 2-85 μμg/mlL for OLM, AML, and TEL, respectively. The proposed HPLC method is a convenient, effective, sensitive, green, and time-saving method for the rapid determination of TEL and OLM in the presence of AML.

Development of an eco-friendly and fast HPLC method for quantitative analysis of four nucleosides in Cordyceps and related products

An eco-friendly and fast HPLC method was developed for the determination of adenosine, inosine, guanosine and uridine in Cordyceps and related products (fermented mycelia of Hirsutella sinensis andPaecilomyces hepiali). The sample was ultrasonically extracted using 0.5% phosphoric acid solutions for 2.5 min. Sample separation was performed on a Poroshell SB-Aq column (50 mm × 4.6 mm, 2.7 μm) using eco-friendly mobile phase consisting of formic acid and ammonium formate aqueous solution at a flow rate of 1.0 mL·min^-1. The detection wavelength was 260 nm. The developed HPLC method showed good linearity with correlation coefficients of 1.0000 in the test range. Good precision, repeatability and stability of this method were also observed (RSD ≤ 2.81%). The recovery ranged from 91.84%-105.19% (RSD ≤ 2.59%). Compared with reported methods, the current method did not use harmful organic solvent and took only 10.5 min. It obtained a high eco-score of 91 by the "Analytical Eco-Scale" tool. The developed method is eco-friendly and fast, which is suitable for the quality evaluation of Cordyceps and related products.

Eco-friendly UPLC-MS/MS analysis of possible add-on therapy for COVID-19 in human plasma: Insights of greenness assessment

Facing the pandemic COVID-19 is of highest priority for all researchers nowadays. Recent statistics indicate that the majority of the cases are home-treated. Two drugs of interest, Guaifenesin and Bromohexine HCl, are among the add-on therapy for treatment of COVID-19 mild cases, which has raised the need for their simultaneous determination. The analysis of the two drugs of interest was described using ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometric (UPLC-MS/MS) in plasma of healthy human volunteers using tetryzoline HCl as an internal standard (IS) after liquid-liquid extraction. The applied chromatographic conditions were Kinetex C₁₈ (100 Å, 2.6 µm X 50 mm X 4.6 mm) column and a mixture of methanol: water (95: 5, v/v) as a mobile phase at flow rate 1 mL/min. The positive ionization mode was used for detecting the ions, by observing the pairs of transition m/z 199 < 125 for GUF, m/z 377 < 114 for BRM and m/z 201 < 131 for IS. The linearity range was from 50 to 1500 ng/mL for GUF and 0.5-50 µg/mL for BRM. Limit of detection (LOD) was found to be 35.16 and 0.43 ng/ml for GUF and BRM, respectively. The method was validated according to FDA guidance. The proposed method was assessed to be more eco-friendly versus the reported method using the greenness assessment tools: National Environmental Methods Index (NEMI), Assessment of Green Profile (AGP), Green Analytical Procedure Index (GAPI) and Eco-Scale. The proposed method was applied for the application of a pilot pharmacokinetic study.