Socia A, Liu Y, Zhao Y, Abend A, Wuelfing WP. Development of an ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-charged aerosol detection/UV method for the quantitation of linear polyethylenimines in oligonucleotide polyplexes.
J Sep Sci 2020;
43:3876-3884. [PMID:
32786026 DOI:
10.1002/jssc.202000414]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/10/2020] [Revised: 08/05/2020] [Accepted: 08/09/2020] [Indexed: 11/05/2022]
Abstract
Linear polyethylenimines are polycationic excipients that have found many pharmaceutical applications, including as a delivery vehicle for gene therapy through formation of polyplexes with oligonucleotides. Accurate quantitation of linear polyethylenimines in both starting solution and formulation containing oligonucleotide/polyethylenimine polyplexes is critical. Existing methods using spectroscopy, matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry time-of-flight, or nuclear magnetic resonance are either complex or suffer from low selectivity. Here, the development and performance of a simple analytical method is described whereby linear polyethylenimines are resolved by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography and quantified using either a charged aerosol detector or an ultraviolet detector. For formulated oligonucleotide/polyethylenimine polyplexes, sample preparation through decomplexation/digestion by trifluoroacetic acid was necessary to eliminate separation interference. The method can be used not only to support formulation development but also to monitor the synthesis/purification and characterization of linear polyethylenimines.
Collapse