Abstract
Background: Genotoxic impurities (GTIs) are produced during the synthesis of active pharmaceutical ingredients and pharmaceutical excipients. L-malic acid, an important active pharmaceutical ingredient and excipient, is widely used in the pharmaceutical industry. However, the detection of potential GTIs in L-malic acid has not been reported.
Objective: This study aims to establish a rapid and sensitive liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method to determine the concentration of potential GTIs in L-malic acid, including N-nitroso-aspartic (NASP) and 2-chlorosuccinic acid (CSA).
Methods: In this work, GTIs were separated by a reverse-phase Accucore C18 column (100 mm × 2.1 mm, 2.6 μm), with gradient elution using methanol and 0.05% ammonia. The multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) negative mode was used to detect GTIs, with transitional ion pairs of m/z from 131.6 to 88.0 for NASP, and from 150.9 to 70.9 for CSA.
Results: The limit of detections (LODs) of NASP and CSA were 2 ng/mL (0.02 ppm) and 5 ng/mL (0.05 ppm), respectively. Both the limit of quantifications (LOQs) of NASP and CSA were 20 ng /mL (0.2 ppm). Good linearity of calibration curves in the concentration ranging from 10 to 500 ng/mL was obtained. The precision was less than 5%, and the intermediate precision was less than 10%. The accuracy ranged from 95.4% to 102.4%, with a relative standard deviation (RSD) of less than 5%. Also, the solution's stability and robustness were acceptable.
Conclusion: Compliant with requirements from (International Council for Harmonization) ICH guidelines, this method can be used for routine analysis and stability studies for GTIs’ levels in pharmaceutical quality control.
Keywords: Genotoxic impurities, L-malic acid, LC-MS/MS, Method validation, Precision, Accuracy
Graphical Abstract
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.yrtph.2021.105042] [PMID: 34506881]
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jpba.2022.114630] [PMID: 35158183]
[http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fchem.2022.834124] [PMID: 35237562]
[http://dx.doi.org/10.2174/1573412915666190522085818]
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chroma.2016.02.002] [PMID: 26893023]
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.yrtph.2021.104895] [PMID: 33610610]
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2125.1994.tb05705.x] [PMID: 8054244]
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.yrtph.2019.104524] [PMID: 31734179]
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jep.2022.115314] [PMID: 35490899]
[http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijms23052563] [PMID: 35269702]
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biotechadv.2015.04.006] [PMID: 25902192]
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jsfa.11373] [PMID: 34143901]
[http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2021.796294] [PMID: 34957190]
[http://dx.doi.org/10.3109/07388551.2014.924474] [PMID: 25025277]
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jssc.201401143] [PMID: 25556762]
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.addr.2006.10.007] [PMID: 17188779]
[http://dx.doi.org/10.2174/1573412912666160610104703]
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chroma.2009.11.036] [PMID: 19954785]
[http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/molecules25153427] [PMID: 32731562]
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2020/2817979] [PMID: 32802838]
[http://dx.doi.org/10.2174/1573412916999200624160304]