Simultaneous determination of low molecular weight nitrosamines in pharmaceutical products by fast gas chromatography mass spectrometry

Control of N-nitrosamines has been in the focus of health authorities in recent years because many of these compounds are probable human carcinogens. In July 2018 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced a recall for valsartan-containing medicines due to contamination with the carcinogenic low molecular weight nitrosamine, N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA). It has become clear that the problem can not only exist in the case of sartans, but in any active pharmaceutical ingredient (API)/drug product in which secondary or tertiary amines are present (as API or as impurities) and a nitrosating agent is available. The decision was made by regulators, according to which manufacturers of pharmaceutical products are obliged to perform a risk assessment for the potential presence of nitrosamines in active pharmaceutical ingredients and drug products. This resulted in a high demand for validated analytical methods that are able to quantify N-nitrosamines at low ppb levels in pharmaceutical products. In this work we have developed and validated a generic fast GC-MS method suitable for the quantitative determination of a wide range of low molecular weight nitrosamines, which include N-nitrosodiethylamine (NDEA), N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA), N-nitroso-diphenylamine (NDPh), N-nitrosodipropylamine (NDPA), N-nitrosomethylethylamine (NMEA), N-nitrosomorpholine (NMOR), N-nitrosopiperidine (NPIP), N-nitroso-ethylisopropylamine (EIPNA), N-nitroso-diisopropylamine (DIPNA), N-nitroso-N-methylaniline (NMPA), 1-Methyl-4-nitrosopiperazine (MeNP) and N-nitroso-pyrrolidine (NPYR). The advantage of the method is that it is possible to screen low molecular weight nitrosamines in low concentrations with a short analysis time in a wide range of APIs and drug products.

Determination of potentially genotoxic impurities in crotamiton active pharmaceutical ingredient by gas chromatography

In the recent years control of potentially genotoxic impurities have an increasing importance in the analysis of active pharmaceutical ingredients. Guidelines of different regulatory bodies specify very low limits for these impurities, in many cases the analytical development is challenging to comply with the requirements. In this paper potential genotoxic impurities of Crotamiton drug substance are investigated, a simple and robust gas chromatographic method is developed for the determination of genotoxic impurities in Crotamiton drug substance. One of the main benefits of this method is that it can quantify all potential genotoxic impurities that can be present in the entire synthesis pathway of Crotamiton drug substance. Crotamiton is synthesized from toluidine derivatives, in which the aromatic amine group represents genotoxic alert. In the method development toluidine isomers (o-, m-, p-toluidine), N-ethyl-toluidine isomers (o-, m-, N-ethyl-p-toluidine) and N-methyl-toluidine isomers (o-, m-, N-methyl-p-toluidine) were separated, and the developed gas chromatographic method is validated in accordance with the relevant guidelines at a specification limit of NMT 40 ppm.