title: Analysis of class 1 residual solvents in pharmaceuticals using headspace-programmed temperature vaporization-fast gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.
abstract: A sensitive method is presented for the fast screening and determination of residual class 1 solvents (1,1-dichloroethene, 1,2-dichloroethane, 1,1,1-trichloroethane, carbon tetrachloride and benzene) in pharmaceutical products. The applicability of a headspace (HS) autosampler in combination with GC equipped with a programmed temperature vaporizer (PTV) and a MS detector is explored. Different injection techniques were compared. The benefits of using solvent vent injection instead of split or splitless-hot injection for the measurement of volatile compounds are shown: better peak shapes, better signal-to-noise ratios, and hence better detection limits. The proposed method is extremely sensitive. The limits of detection ranged from 4.9 ppt (benzene) to 7.9 ppt (1,2-dichloroethane) and precision (measured as the relative standard deviation) was equal to or lower than 12% in all cases. The method was applied to the determination of residual solvents in nine different pharmaceutical products. The analytical performance of the method shows that it is appropriate for the determination of residual class 1 solvents and has much lower detection limits than the concentration limits proposed by the International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) of Technical Requirements for the Registration of Pharmaceuticals for Human Use. The proposed method achieves a clear improvement in sensitivity with respect to conventional headspace methods due to the use of the PTV.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Química Analítica, Nutrición y Bromatología, Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad de Salamanca, 37008 Salamanca, Spain. jlpp@usal.es
authors.forename: José Luis
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Pérez Pavón
authors.forename: Miguel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Del Nogal Sánchez
authors.forename: M A Esther
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Fernández Laespada
authors.forename: Carmelo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: García Pinto
authors.forename: Bernardo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Moreno Cordero
mesh_terms: D016001:Confidence Intervals; D004340:Drug Contamination; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations / Q000737:chemistry*; D012997:Solvents / Q000032:analysis*; D013696:Temperature; D013997:Time Factors; D044366:Transition Temperature; D014835:Volatilization
chemical_list: D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations; D012997:Solvents