Second derivative synchronous fluorescence determination of avanafil in the presence of its acid-induced degradation product aided by powerful Lean Six Sigma tools augmented with D-optimal design

In this work, the quantitative determination of an erectile dysfunctional drug avanafil in the presence of its acid-induced degradation product was achieved via the application of a pre-optimized novel spectrofluorimetric method. The fluorescence emission wavelength was recorded at 370 and 407 nm, after being excited at 268 and 271 nm for avanafil and its acid-induced degradation product, respectively. Direct determination of avanafil based on its native fluorescence is restricted because the emission spectra of both components are heavily overlapped. Therefore, to overcome this constraint, a novel second derivative synchronous fluorescence method was evolved to eliminate this overlapping. The ideal determination wavelength was found to be 377 nm. Augmentation of lean six sigma (LSS) with response surface methodology (RSM) play a significant role in the development of robust specifications to ensure quality at the six sigma level with a high level of statistical confidence and targeted performance. All of the experimental conditions were optimized using D-optimal design as a RSM to select the optimal parameters. In addition, this work includes a graphical representation of the relationships between various variables that can greatly affect the results and the intensity of the synchronous fluorescence.

D-optimal design as a useful tool response surface methodology for the optimization of signals from synchronous fluorescence prior to simultaneous determination of avanafil and tadalafil

A rapid, smart and sensitive first derivative spectrofluorimetric method has been carried out for the simultaneous estimation of avanafil and tadalafil either in their pure form, tablet dosage form or spiked human plasma. The measurements of normal emission spectra or synchronous fluorescence intensity of both drugs show severe overlap which hindered their determination using normal fluorescence or synchronous intensity. Therefore, a highly sensitive first derivative synchronous fluorescence procedure was used to resolve this overlap. The method is based upon measurement of the amplitude of the first derivative of synchronous fluorescence intensity of both drugs at Δλ = 70 nm and at suitable wavelength of 396 nm and 364 nm for avanafil and tadalafil, respectively. Under the optimum conditions, the linear determination ranges are 50-1800 and 5-400 ng mL^-1 with a detection limit of 12.93 and 1.46 ng mL^-1 for avanafil and tadalafil, respectively. A response surface methodology was used for optimization using D-optimal design which can be used for determination of the exact optimum parameters specifically designed for this method. In addition; it is a good way to graphically clarify the relationship between various experimental variables and the synchronous fluorescence intensity.

Simultaneous analysis of 23 illegal adulterated aphrodisiac chemical ingredients in health foods and Chinese traditional patent medicines by ultrahigh performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry

This paper presents an application of ultra high-performance liquid-chromatography-quadrupole-TOF high resolution mass spectrometry (UHPLC-Q-TOF HRMS) for simultaneous analysis of 23 illegal adulterated aphrodisiac type chemical ingredients in health foods and Chinese Traditional Patent Medicines (CTPMs). The mass spectrometer was operated in Information Dependent Acquisition (IDA) mode, which provides crucial information for the elemental composition analysis, structure elucidation and quantitative analysis simultaneously. Quantitative analysis was performed using the peak areas of the precursor ions in the XICs. The method validation included assessment of selectivity, sensitivity, calibration curve, accuracy, precision, recovery, matrix effect and stability. The results show good linear relationship with the concentrations of the analytes over wide concentration ranges (e.g., 0.05–10 μg/g for sildenafil) as all the fitting coefficients of determination r² are >0.9984. The detection limits (LODs) were in the range of 0.002–0.1 μg/g. The recoveries were able to reach 82.5–103.6%, while the matrix effects ranged from 87.7 to 109.3%. The intra- and inter-day accuracies were in the range of 82.3–113.8%, while the intra- and inter-day precision ranged from 0.4 to 13.6%. Among 40 batches of health foods and 32 batches of CTPMs (including 28 capsules, 32 tablets, 10 liquid and 2 pills) samples, 28 batches of heath foods were positive. The detected chemical ingredients involved sildenafil, tadalafil, aildenafil and sulfoaildenafil. This method can be used for the screening, identification and quantification of illegal adulterated aphrodisiac chemical ingredients in health foods and CTPMs. Moreover, the LC-Q-TOF MS is very useful to structural elucidation of unknown compound.